Not all Lone Wolves are Wolves
by InkMeYouVillian
Summary: And not all lone wolves (or Foxes) walk alone forever. A story about my OC Zaylee Foxx and her interactions with the Shane Gang. This story is set after season one. (There will be more stories later, I'm too full of ideas). Rated T for language, but it's not too bad. Do not own Slugterra, ect, you know the drill. Hope you enjoy!
1. Greetings From The Past

**I usually don't do intros, but I feel like a bit of explanation is needed because this story started on tumblr where the audience already knew just about everything that was going on and I've had trouble adding the necessary descriptions in some places. Zaylee's non cannon slugs are as follows:  
****Lasa: species-Beamer, abilities- shooting laser beams from it's head  
****Snoop: species- Fimber, abilities- tracking and light source  
Ilia: species- Invisius, abilities- turning things invisible  
Styx: species- Vampenyeko, abilities- drains energy of opponent and opponent's slugs  
Rexy: species- Dinorawr, abilites- hits opponents with it's rigged back for major damage  
Spike: species- Acus, abilities- can knock a hole through any type of material.  
****The other two OC's mentioned on here (Xia and Pulse) belong to two of my best friends on tumblr, their characters belong to them.  
Hopefully I explain everything else well in the story, so enjoy!**

Zaylee was riding through Tusker Forks cavern when she heard the familiar sound of exploding slugs. That either meant a duel was taking place, or someone was in trouble. Either way, she wanted to be there. She pulled her mecha beast, a PAN-T3R model, around and headed towards the noise. She was not to be disappointed; she saw a group of slingers loosing sorely to Locke and Lode. She armed her blaster and took aim. However, a closer look made her stop short.

The black haired boy who appeared to be the leader of the group looked oddly familiar. She squinted, trying to get a better view. Suddenly she recognized the insignia they're all wearing. The Shane Gang.

That meant… Eli Shane. Her best friend when they lived on the surface world. They had always played together as kids when their dad's were working down here in Slugterra together. She felt a nostalgic smile creep over her lips, but she shook it off. That was ancient history. She knew how Eli would feel if she stole their thunder and sent Locke and Lode running. And they seemed to be doing fine anyways.

Or maybe they weren't, she corrected herself as she saw a cave troll fly across the valley into a rock, cracking it in two. She laughed a bit, but it must have hurt the blue creature, it took a lot of force to crack the rocks down here. She put her mecha into gear again as she saw a thin ginger girl, about the same age as Eli and a Molenoid get hit in the same shot, leaving only Eli standing against the brothers.

"Face it kid, you can't win." Locke said.

"Yeah, and even worse, you're gunna lose!" Lode chortled, adding his usual useless commentary.

"Don't pride yourselves so much, I've gotten a lot better." Eli defended.

Zaylee felt another smile cross her lips. He had grown up so much and in all the right places too. He was going to make a great Shane.

Locke and Lode shot two Hop Jacks at Eli and he countered with his Arachnet, but Spinner could only take out one of the ghouled slugs. The other hit him right in the chest and sent him flying with a thud to the feet of Zaylee's mecha.

"Need some help there kiddo?" She smirked.

"Nah, I'm doing fine." Eli choked out, struggling to get up. It was clear he had been hurt badly, bruises were already beginning to blossom across his arms.

"Right…" She said as he got hit by another ghoul.

She raised her blaster and shot her Dinorawr, Rexy, which hit Lode right across the face, knocking a tooth out. Next she sent her Rammstone right into Locke's chest.

"When did she get here?" Lode asked

"I don't know brother, but she's bad news for us."

"Miss me?" Zaylee smirked, reloading her bright blue and green blaster. "Better watch out boys, momma's home and it's time for a butt whooping." Zaylee chuckled, mocking their south western accents. She sent her Beamer slug after them and watched them hop on their mechas and run away as the laser-beam shooting slug chased after them.

"Thanks, we were really in a bind there." The cave troll said, coming from behind, still trying to re-adjust everything.

"Yeah, those are some really cool slugs you got there too." The red-head piped in. "I'd love to get a shot of some of them if you'd let me." She pulled out her camera, setting the focus.

Eli just looked pouty; Zaylee understood why. She'd been stealing his thunder ever since they started school.

"Well, it's nice to see we aren't the only ones who can shoot well around here." Eli said, a bit of malice still in his voice. "You do that often?"

"Yeah, I'd like to consider myself a vigilante, helping when I see the need."

"We were doing-" Eli began, but he was cut off by Pronto.

"Terrible, simply terrible, Pronto owes you the humblest of thanks."

Zaylee smiled appreciatively.

"By the way I didn't catch your name." Eli said, finally over his pride, and offering a hand in friendship.

Zaylee smiled all too knowingly. "I'm surprised you don't remember me Eli. But I'm sure we'll be seeing each other plenty." She winked at Eli's confused face. "In the meantime though, I have some clean up to do." Her Beamer had returned, looking tired, but triumphant and was hoping to her mecha. She held out her hand for the little slug and scratched its head in praise, before powering up her PAN-T3R and heading off in the direction where she had last seen Locke and Lode.

Eli watched her go off, his jaw slack. Trixie came up behind him, putting a hand on his shoulder to shock him out of his daze.

"Do you know her?" She asked.

"Uh, no, yes, I mean apparently, but not really, I have no idea…" Eli trailed off, racking his brain for where he had seen that face before. She looked familiar, but he just couldn't put a finger on it.

"Maybe she's helped us out before or maybe we've just ran into her on one of our patrols or something." Kord offered. "We've met way too many people to count."

"No, I'd remember a slinger like her."

"Allow Pronto to use his excellent snooping and tracking skills to discover her identity."

"No, that's fine Pronto." Eli muttered. "Let's just not worry about it. We were here to find that source you mentioned, not chase after Blakk's cronies and random vigilantes."

"Ah yes, my dear friend Pulse. She said she had much good insider information on Dr. Blakk, let us go, this way," Pronto said marching off, and straight into the side of a rock.

"Perhaps I may be mistaken," the Molenoid said rubbing his nose. He got onto his mecha and headed off in what the team hopped was only the right direction.

Zaylee blew the smoke off her blaster as she sent Locke and Lode into a full cry-baby retreat. It was too easy. Blakk really needed some worthy henchmen if he ever expected to be a real threat. Wait, no, no good henchmen, that'd be a bad idea, really bad. Nacho was more than a pant load as it was. She rode her mecha beast back to her own cavern, parking it in the parking garage that held all the mechas to her apartment. Climbing the steps to her apartment, she leaned against the door frame as she unlocked the five locks. Walking in she clicked on a button that projected a giant screen onto a blank wall. She then clicked a button on the screen, sending a call to her friends, Xia Akibba, Dana Pore and Erin Pulse.

"Hey what's up?" She heard Xia's voice on the screen.

"Wanna do dinner tonight? I've got quite the story to tell."

"Oh I love story time!" Xia smiled excitedly.

"How exciting," Dana stuck her tongue out sarcastically.

"Oh I have stories too." Pulse's Panthrope voice purred over the speakers.

"Wanna do pizza? Or this new sushi place opened up down in Low Rock Cavern."

"Sushi!" Pulse called.

"That sounds too classy," Xia stuck her tongue out.

"Trust me, you'll love it." Zaylee smiled pouring a bunch of slug pellets in a bowl and setting it down for her slugs.

"Alright, let's meet at seven then," Dana said. "Just don't get distracted with all that hero work like last time." She teased.

"As long as you don't get distracted with all your running for your life stuff." Pulse joked back.

"Hey, same goes for you." Zaylee warned. Her friends rolled their eyes at her before signing off to get ready.

Eli slammed his head on his wall for the thousandth time. Who was she? Why did she know him? She was so smug about it. Why wouldn't she tell him who she was? Did she expect him to figure it out? He slammed his head on the wall again.

"Hey Eli, man you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah no, everything's fine, just doing some re-arranging in here" He added a fake laugh, and went back to wracking his brain for the answer.

"Maybe you should go check on him," Trixie directed to Kord, "He's been all out of sorts since we ran into that girl this morning."

"He'll be fine, besides, we need to piece together all the stuff that cat-human-I-don't-know-what told us. She made no sense."

"It's all good information though," Pronto quickly defended Pulse.

"You're only saying that because you have the hots for her." Kord shot back.

"What? Pronto is insulted you would draw such conclusions."

"Dude, it was totally obvious the whole time we were there."

"Maybe you should go check on him." Trixie interjected again as she heard another bang from Eli's room. "His slugs seem all out of whack too. That's not a good sign." She protectively stroked a jittery Chiller.

"He's fine, let's just figure out this stuff." Kord brushed her concern off, instead holding up a piece of paper that held a snippet of Pulse's cryptic information. He turned the paper in all different directions, as if that would reveal a hidden message.

"It'd be a lot easier if we had Eli here to help us." Trixie said, acid dripping from her voice.

The sudden harshness in Trixie's voice made Kord and Pronto look up quickly. "Alright, one of us will talk to him," Kord tried to pacify the situation. "It's not really my strong suit though, I'm better with mechanics." Kord looked to Pronto.

"Although Pronto is sure he could handle the situation, he thinks a woman's touch is better suited here." He offered a weak smile to Trixie.

"Alright, fine you sissies."

Kord and Pronto winced under the insult and went quickly back to trying to decipher the pages as Trixie walked to Eli's room. Burpy hopped up and smiled at the two.

"I wonder why he's not bugging out like the rest of Eli's slugs." Kord mused.

"Perhaps… Uh… No idea."

"Maybe he knows the mystery woman. Hey little guy, what do you know?" He asked Burpy. The slug happily chattered his information to the Cave Troll and the Molenoid, both who understood nothing. They looked at each other for help, both shrugging when they came up with nothing. They looked back down at the paper, and Burpy, who was moving around the sheets in an order.

"Look!" Pronto exclaimed, pointing excitedly.

"They're making sense too!" Kord joined in the celebration. "Go little guy go!"

Burpy complied moving the last two pages in their respective places.

"Man you really are something." Kord said, rewarding the slug with a treat. "Eli's lucky to have you."

Meanwhile, Trixie was knocking on Eli's door, Eli refusing to open it.

"Eli, come on! It's not the end of the world! Let's just figure this information about Dr. Blakk out."

She received no response.

"Alright then, you asked for it." She loaded her blaster and shot a Hop Rock through his door, and then an Arachnet at Eli and promptly dragged him out of his room with the sticky web her slug had spun.

"Hey my door!" Eli complained.

"That's what you get, now come on." She huffed dragging Eli slowly down the hall. "Hey Kord some help?"

"Huh? I told you I was- oh, yeah I'm coming." He called seeing Trixie struggle with Eli's weight. He lifted Eli up and plopped him on the couch.

"And I'm assuming you two have done nothing productive," Trixie accused.

"Well, we didn't, but Burpy did," Pronto said motioning to the deciphered papers.

Trixie's face lit up at the organized papers and began to read them furiously. Eli was still muttering about the mystery woman and how Trixie had destroyed his door.

"You know what this means?" Trixie suddenly said. "We need to get to Blakk's fortress right away!"

"I didn't get that…" Pronto muttered.

"Do you think that's such a good idea," Kord brought up, "I mean, Eli's basically no better than a sack of potatoes right now…"

"No! We have to go right now! It says it all right here! He's going to launch an attack of ghouls with a huge army tomorrow! We need to get there and stop him before he has the chance!"

"Again, useless Eli," Kord pointed to the muttering Shane.

"We'll fix him on the way." Trixie said. She paused momentarily thinking and then with a grin said; "Maybe we'll even see _her_ along the way."

"Were going!" Eli proclaimed hearing this, and got up and started heading to their garage.

"You're right Pronto," Trixie said, examining her manicure. "All it needed was a woman's touch."

Zaylee walked into the restaurant, absorbing the new atmosphere. She saw her friends sitting in a plushy round booth and rushed to join them. She barely had time to put in her order with the waiter before Xia was bombarding her with questions.

"Hold on, hold on, I'm getting there," she laughed taking a sip of her water. The three girls looked at her excitedly.

"Well," She began, "I ran into Eli today." She blurted out.

"What! No! You said we'd do that together!" Xia complained.

"Hey, it wasn't planned." Zaylee defended herself. "They were getting their butts kicked by Locke and Lode. It's my job to help people in need. And who doesn't love a good go at those two?"

"Fine, fine, you're forgiven." Xia sighed, grimacing momentarily at her Panthrope friend, Pulse, who was shoveling down the six plates she had ordered in what Zaylee figured was record time.

"So what'd you guys talk about?" Xia started up again, "When's you're first date?" She waggled her eyebrows mischievously.

"I call maid of honor!" Pulse exclaimed, pausing just long enough in the middle of her fifth plate.

"Slow. Down. Please. I didn't really talk to him, I mean, I mentioned that I knew who he was, but there were butts to be kicked, and his whole gang was there, and you know, I'm not good in social situations…" Zaylee twisted uncomfortably in her seat.

"We are so hooking you two up." Pulse said in between bites of fish.

"I don't even think we're friends anymore… Besides, he's more of a brother to me."

"I see that blush, don't lie to us, you know better than to be able to get away with that around us." Dana warned, pointing a chopstick at Zaylee.

Zaylee, still blushing under the dim lights began eating her food. "Tell us your story." She directed at Pulse, wanting desperately to change the subject.

"Well, your little story happens to segue into mine quite nicely, because after that, you'll never guess who showed up at my front door."

"What?! Has everyone met Eli but me?" Xia complained

"Nope," Dana shrugged.

"You don't count."

Dana was about to open her mouth for an angry retort about what the Shanes owed her when Pulse stopped the argument to continue her story.

"Well, I thought it was just going to be Pronto, you know, that nice Molenoid I met a while back at that party…"

"We're so hooking you two up." Zaylee mocked Pulse.

"Wait! You've known about the Shane gang for a while then and haven't told us?" Xia interjected.

"No, no, no. I had no idea Pronto was with the Shane gang! I honestly didn't think that was his style."

"His style? Really Erin?" Dana chuckled.

Pulse stuck her tongue out at the pink haired girl.

"He made it seem like he was the leader of some famous gang." Pulse looked away, embarrassed.

"From the thirty seconds I saw of the Molenoid, it doesn't surprise me." Zaylee chuckled.

"Finish the story." Xia prodded.

"Well, they came to me and Pronto said they wanted to ask me about my time with Dr. Blakk." Pulse paused and shuddered. Her friends waited quietly for her to continue. She did, but her voice had changed, "They asked a lot of questions, and I don't remember what they asked or what they said. I know I told them about the ghoul show Blakk's putting on tomorrow, but I'm not sure about anything else…" Pulse trailed off, clearly troubled; Xia put a comforting hand on her arm.

"We need to go there." Zaylee said suddenly. "Why didn't you mention this show thing before?" She asked Pulse quietly.

"You know me; I don't like talking about it." Pulse said, struggling to come back to her normal self. Zaylee nodded understandingly.

"We still need to go."

"Well you can," Xia said, "but I'm still trying to stay under the radar, so I think I'll sit this one out."

"I think I will too." Pulse said.

"You know I don't do that sort of stuff." Dana put in.

"I'll worry about it in the morning then. For now, let's just have a good time." Her friends smiled in agreement and decided to see who could eat the most wasabi without drinking anything.


	2. Second Encounters of the First Kind

The Shane Gang slowly looked up from behind the rock they had staked out behind. They looked on a Blakk industries stage, decked out to the nines in red and black, with an alarming amount of cylinders covered in black velvet. No doubt hiding ghouls underneath.

"Are you sure Pulse said army?" Kord asked Trixie.

"That information was confusing, but whatever this is, it's bad news."

"That information was per-" Pronto began to interject.

"Shush!" Trixie hissed.

"How dare you shush the magnificent-" but Pronto never got to finish as Kord placed a heavy hand over the struggling Molenoid's mouth.

Eli remained silent through this exchange, trying to figure out what the stage meant, and the rows and rows of seats where civilians were beginning to sit. Didn't they know how dangerous Blakk and his ghouls were? What was Blakk trying to do, pass off his ghouls as some sort of good thing? How had they not heard about all the bad things he had done? Eli's mind though wasn't all there though, because he was avidly searching for other answers. Answers about the mystery girl with the sliver panther mecha with blue detailing and the rare slugs.

And that mystery girl was crouched on her perched on top of Dr. Blakk's citadel that overlooked his pompous and flashy stage. Pulse had said Blakk wanted to take his ghouls commercial, but Zaylee never thought Dr. Blakk to be one for so much flair and pizzazz. She stroked her slugs; they were still waking up, not getting their usual morning training. She had left before first light, wanting to watch the entire stage get set up so she knew all the weak points to shoot. She smirked, watching Eli and his friends arrive, armaturely and haphazardly getting to a barley safe vantage point, and she stifled a laugh at the struggle to keep Pronto quiet. What did Pulse see in him? Oh well, that wasn't her business. Stopping Blakk was. She looked back over at Eli, beginning to reminisce on the fun they had when they were little, pretending to be real slug slingers like their fathers. Now they had gotten their wish, but it came at a price, and maybe they had wished away their youth to fast. She noticed how much older Eli had really gotten. He looked so world weary, and she knew she had fared no better.

She blinked as she heard one of Blakk's henchmen do a sound check, and she looked down as Dr. Blakk waltzed on stage to what seemed an all too thunderous applause.

"My dear friends and future business associates," the villain began. "I have invited you today to show you an experiment that I have been working on that may change the very fate of Slugterra."

"Or destroy it." Eli muttered from his vantage point, but the con-man from his stage, unable to hear him, carried on.

"Now many may think this experiment to be unethical, dangerous, unstable, but I assure you with the upmost confidence that I have created something that is worth any risk, but possess very few."

_Lies_. Zaylee screamed in her head. But her enemy doctor carried on.

"This creation of mine has such raw, beautiful power that I cannot even begin to describe all its abilities. But I promise you, it is worth your time, your money, and your allegiance."

The crowd had begun to mutter, curious about what was about to be revealed, and this seemingly innocent man's intentions. The secret on lookers knew the truth though. He was here to sell his ghouls, force people into alliances, gain money. And they all also silently agreed he was laying it on rather thick.

But the mad scientist on the stage and all his cronies were still unaware of their presence. The audience had no clue what danger they were really in either, so the villain continued. "I believe the best way to explain the power of this invention is to show you." Familiar faces stepped on to the stage; John Bull, Locke, Lode, and C.C. "So without further ado, I introduce to you, my new and improved slugs ready and available for market. Or as you may know them, ghouls."

The velvet coverings flew to the top of the stage, revealing red containers of ghouls. The four slingers, choreographed, loaded a ghoul into each of their blasters, and taking up four different positions and shot the ghouls into each other, causing a massive explosion. Women in the audience screamed. Men got up from their seats in fear. But they didn't leave, completely transfixed by the power this man possessed in these slugs.

Eli had snapped back to reality; he was through with Dr. Blakk's lies and oppression of the people trapped in their seats. Pushing his other worries about mystery girls aside, he jumped down the hill, leaving his friends staring after him and screaming: "Eli, what the heck are you doing?!"

"Looks like your ghouls can make some pretty nice fireworks," Eli said, sauntering up to the stage, between rows of gasping onlookers, who could all recognize the insignia he wore on his armor, "But I don't think they can do much else."

"God Eli," Zaylee muttered from her vantage point, "What are you doing, you know better…" But she wasn't going to get involved until completely necessary. He might have a nice trick up his sleeve.

"Oh Eli, I was rather hoping you'd show up." Dr. Blakk almost sang. "Is there a different demonstration you had in mind?"

"Yeah, how about a duel?"

It was so silent you could hear a pin drop.

Bull and C.C stepped forward eagerly, but Dr. Blakk waved them off. "I thought you'd never ask." He said taking his three-shooter out of his jacket.

The audience, now stricken with a new fear, took this time to quietly and quickly move out of the way; towards their mecha beasts and the train station, in case the need rose for a speedy getaway. But they all kept their eyes glued to the duel.

Eli started with his Tazerling, but Dr. Blakk easily evaded it, countering with a Hop Jack and a Grimmstone. Eli barley evaded the two, taking cover behind an overturned chair.

"We have to go help him." Trixie said, starting to get up from behind the rock as more slugs flew below them.

"No, this is Eli's duel." Kord reminded her, holding her back. "We can't give our position away either, we're the second line of defense incase Eli can't win."

"Yeah, well I don't want to be peeling his lifeless body from the slide of a rock!" Trixie practically yelled as Eli had another near miss. But Kord refused to let her go. He knew the unsaid plan Eli had in mind. They were only there if it wasn't successful. But as he saw a glint of blue metal from the roof top of Dr. Blakk's fortress, he had a good feeling it would work.

From the top of the building Zaylee shook her head as Eli's chances of winning were getting slimmer and slimmer. His cave troll friend was holding his other two team mates back and seemed to look in her direction, which meant it was her decision what happened next as Eli's duel took another turn for the worse. If he got hit now, he'd be down and out for the count. She doubted he knew that. She jumped down, neatly landing on top of the stage. Blakk's henchmen gawked and raised their blasters, but Zaylee stopped their advances neatly and quickly with a Frostcrawler.

"I hate to interrupt," she smiled causing Dr. Blakk to spin around at the sound of her voice, and pause his relentless attacking of Eli, "but I just couldn't resist my opportunity to get a shot in at the _all-powerful Doctor Thaddeus Blakk._" Sarcasm and malice dripped from her voice.

"Ah, Zaylee, long time no see." He gave an evil grin as a greeting.

"It's been too short."

"You haven't missed our little skirmishes to much have you?"

"Not in the least."

The two had begun circling each other, blasters raised, waiting for someone to take the first shot. Eli stared awestruck at the mystery girl's confidence around the fearsome man as he struggled to pick himself up. He was sure his bruises had bruises now. Wiping the blood off his spit lip and watched expectantly as a new duel began.

Zaylee, tired of the waiting game took the first shot, her Dinorawr flying at 100 miles per hour from her blaster. Blakk knocked the slug aside with a Thrasher. Zaylee countered quickly with her Beamer, and a Lariat shortly after. Blakk avoided both easily, but it was clear he was getting annoyed with dueling. Zaylee knew she had a short time before Blakk pulled a cheap shot, so she shot hers. She aimed her Rammstone at the weak point on the stage she had located hours earlier and watched as the monstrosity began to crumble. She ran to Eli, grabbing his Boon Doc from out of his belt and shooting it at the masses of newly freed slugs. Blakk roared in frustration as he realized he had been played. But he had no time to return fire, more concerned with avoiding the bars of metal now falling down around him. Zaylee grabbed the still weak Eli and dragged him back to his hiding spot with their slugs in tow.

"Thanks," Eli panted. "It seemed like a much better idea in my head than it turned out to be." He managed a weak laugh which turned into a groan as he felt his body react in pain.

"What were you thinking Eli?! You could have gotten killed!" Trixie interjected.

"I agree with your friend on this one Eli. That was way too dangerous." Zaylee gave her younger friend a stern look as she handed his Boon Doc to his red-headed teamate.

"Thanks for saving me, I guess." Eli rolled his eyes at the all too familiar motherly tone. "You know, I still don't know your name."

"You'll figure it out eventually," Zaylee laughed with a wink, walking over to a crevice in the rock, and hitting something in mid air, watching her mecha beast materialize.

"How…" Kord began.

"Invisius slug goo release system." Zaylee winked again, and with that she was off.

"What?! Not again!" Eli groaned, "This is turning out to be a bummer of a day."

"Not entirely." Trixie tried to comfort, "We did sorta stop Blakk, and you sorta helped, I mean look, his entire plan was ruined, no one joined him, no one bought his slugs. His stage isn't even left standing."

"And I suggest we get out of here before he remembers you helped." Kord put in.

"Alright," Eli continued pouting, even after Trixie shot him with Doc. "Let's head on out and call it a day."

"Pronto has never heard such an excellent suggestion in his life." The Molenoid added, finally finding his voice again.

"And you ran away again?!" Xia was exasperated with her friend now.

Zaylee looked around, paranoid, but no one even raised an eyebrow to the four girls who always seemed to argue in Mario's Pizza Parlor. "I didn't run away per say, there was no running about it. I walked calmly to my mecha, even explained my Invisius trick. They could have stopped me any time they wanted."

"But from what it sounded like Eli was pretty beat up, he couldn't have stopped you if he tried," Dana stated. "Which brings around another question, why didn't you step in sooner? Not that I care of course."

"I stepped in before Blakk killed him. That's what matters most. But his gang wasn't doing anything either. Eli's the Shane, he's the name people remember; not mine, not any of his friends. Whether he's losing or not, the people need to see him standing up for them. Those people didn't trust those slugs- no one does. They wanted out; you could see it in their eyes. Eli gave them that chance at his own expense. That's what a Shane is supposed to do. And besides, he has a Boon Doc, he'll be just fine."

"That still doesn't explain why you keep avoiding him. I mean, I took the time to find their hide out, which was fairly easy by the way, and introduced myself to Eli. And you know I never go out of my way to meet people. He and his gang are a nice group; they even agreed to help me if I ever needed it. I'm doing fine though, don't worry. But why won't you go? You who knows practically every nook and cranny of Slugterra, it wouldn't be a dent out of your day to go to their hide out- which I know you know where it is- and introduce yourself. You could go up at anytime and say; 'Hey, we used to be childhood friends, how have you been?' And don't lie and say you didn't know the second Eli's name was heard in the streets. Why are you hiding from him?" Xia looked hard at Zaylee, making blood rise to her cheeks as she twisted in her seat, wishing more than anything she didn't have to have this conversation.

"I just- I just want him to figure it out, we spent ten years of our life hanging out together. I just want him to remember for himself. Besides, he told me the first thing he'd do when he got down here was duel me. He hasn't done that yet, I don't care if he got side tracked or not. It's been almost six months. It means he forgot me, it hurts. I just want him to remember…"

"Or you don't want your butt handed to you in a duel." Pulse joked.

"Who fared better against Blakk today?" Zaylee countered suddenly very harshly.

"Zaylee, he's a guy, guys forget." Xia said, bringing the conversation back to the main point. "You have to get over your pride, your hurt, and your social awkwardness…"

"That last one's not happening," Zaylee quickly cut in.

"…And you need to tell him if you want to regain whatever friendship you had that you keep telling us about." Xia finished, ignoring Zaylee's interruption and taking another bite of her pizza.

"We'll see." Zaylee said, giving up on trying to convince her friends she was in the right.

"Which means no," Pulse quipped.

Zaylee stuck her tongue out at Pulse and went back to her pizza.

What she hadn't told them, she sighed, as she walked back to her apartment was that Xia was right. She had known the exact moment when Eli landed in Slugterra from the surface. She'd watched him through his first duels, examining his style in case he held his promise; which he did. She knew she could beat him; that wasn't the problem. She had an arsenal full of high power slugs and three extra years of experience. His Tazerling and Infurnus wouldn't stand a chance. It would be an easy duel for her. But something had been holding her back in seeking him out. She had always told herself it was the fact he was a Shane, and her last name was no longer a part of that Gang. She was a lone wolf. She'd told herself she was waiting for his challenge for a duel. She'd told herself lots of things. But was there maybe another reason she wasn't telling herself? Yes, and Pulse and Xia had brought it to her attention tonight. She was scared. Scared he didn't remember, didn't care. Scared that what they used to have would be gone. She'd read the letter with Eli time and time again, comforting him through losing his dad, and so when they went to Slugterra, each in their own time, they'd be as prepared as possible. But they had both changed so much since then. If they were to reconnect would things ever be the same? She held herself tightly as she walked down the darkening streets to her apartment. She wouldn't fall apart because of Eli. Not here, not ever.

But a few caverns away, Eli was falling apart because he couldn't figure out why that face haunted his dreams, why she looked so familiar, why he seemed to know the names of her slugs; even though he couldn't remember her ever mentioning them, and why her dueling style was so familiar, and looked like the perfect accompaniment to his own. But no matter how hard he tried, the name and memories were too far back in his brain and continued to evade him.


	3. Third Time's The Charm

**AKA The Fantastic Ms. Foxx (because I love both names too much to choose). Does Eli finally remember his childhood friend? Or will Zaylee finally get over herself and tell him? Read on to find out!**

Zaylee would never admit it to anyone, but ever since that night at Mario's pizza place, she had gone out of her way to avoid the Shane gang. They were rumored last at Bulls Eye? She'd just avoid that cavern and all the surrounding ones for a while. They were last seen in Dead Weed? Nope, not going there.

Sometimes though, intersecting paths were unavoidable. She had been tracking the Hooligang and their comeback for some time now. Her invisible form would scare them out of neighborhoods and caverns, making sure they didn't bother the innocent civilians.

Her heart stopped beating momentarily as she overheard them one night talking about their new assignment, but she knew she had to stop them no matter what- or who they were going after.

Eli was feeling much better, the mystery girl almost gone from his mind. There hadn't been another encounter in over a month so he slowly let her slip from his mind. Just like last time, not that he remembered that either. They were in Scorched Sparks cavern, celebrating another Eli Shane win. The team had been short on gold; and no one wanted to relinquish their slugs, nor could they convince Pronto to give up his plethora of junk. Kord convinced them to give up that endeavor eventually, considering the junk wouldn't amount to much anyways. Instead they decided to participate in another duel. They were well aware there would be a price on Eli's head if he showed up, but he had managed to win the first place trophy and the large reward that went with it.

His popularity had doubled in an instant. He was now an even bigger hero, everyone's favorite kid with a blaster. Dr. Blakk had not been pleased with this win, and had re-hired the Hooligang to make sure it never happened again.

So Shorty, Glasses, and Billy rode into town creating their usual ruckus, followed by the invisible Zaylee, who was still unsure how to handle this situation. The Shane Gang heard the shots from outside the restaurant they were celebrating at, and rushed outside blasters loaded.

"Well, well, well, I didn't expect finding you to be this easy." Billy sneered.

"What do you want Billy?" Eli tested. He didn't like Billy at all, considering he always seemed to cause trouble wherever he went.

"I'm here to beat you. Permanently."

"You sure about that? I'm pretty sure I can beat you with a blindfold on."

"I'd love to test that," Billy's sneer grew wider. "Blakk's not pleased with your rise in popularity. He wants you gone."

"Well, tell him I say no." Eli said raising his blaster.

"I don't think you quite get it Shane. I'm here to beat you _permanently_. When he wants you gone, he wants you kaput, out of the picture, _dead_." Leaving no further room for smack talk, Billy shot his hop jack and the duel began.

Zaylee watched from a perch on a rock high above as ghouls and slugs were fired back and forth between the Shane Gang and the Hooligang. This should be something they could handle; she knew they had beaten the Hooligang before. She had no idea why they seemed to be getting pushed back, hiding behind everything and anything while the Hooligang advanced. She pulled down her tech-glasses from her head, courtesy of Xia, and adjusted the binocular setting before letting out a gasp. Those weren't just the regular ghouls they had been dueling with during the time she had been trailing them. Blakk had made sure they had the highest power ghouls possible for this mission. He was serious, he wanted Eli dead.

Zaylee sighed, she didn't want to help and steal Eli's thunder for the third time. Not to mention she didn't want to break her streak of avoiding Eli for 41 days now. The more the duel progressed though, and the worse the Shane Gang was doing, the more it seemed like she'd have to step in. She rode her mecha down towards the duel as the goo from her Invisius slug wore off her mecha and her body. She pulled her mecha to a halt, hopped off, and walked up behind the Shane Gang.

"Looks like you guys could use some help." She said, sounding as calm as she could, raising her blaster, shooting a Jollyfist away from the now gape-mouthed Eli's head.

"Follow my lead," she said, hopping over their makeshift barricades. "You'll never win a duel fighting on the defensive." She began shooting slugs at each of the three attackers, easily avoiding their ghouls with grace. The Shane Gang followed suit, leaving their trash cans and lampposts behind and falling in behind Zaylee, shooting at the Hooligang.

"You!" Billy spat at Zaylee, "You always get in the way!"

"Yeah, and Blakk knows he can't kill me." Zaylee grinned. "And he should know he can't kill a Shane either."

"Well then answer me this!" Billy sneered, "Where's Will Shane now?!"

Zaylee's face blanched for a millisecond and Eli's shot faltered. But she refused to let Billy get the best of them. "You can't kill a Shane." She repeated. "Trust me; you haven't seen the last of Will Shane. And if we ever see your faces again," she began yelling angrily, "We'll be the last thing you see!" She unloaded the remainder of her arsenal at the now terrified Hooligang as she cooled off.

"Well, that was fun." She sighed, examining her bright blue nails as the Hooligang retreated out of the cavern. "Hopefully, I won't see you around too much either." She nodded to the Shane Gang and began walking back to her mecha.

"Wait," Eli said, grabbing her by the shoulder. "Why won't you tell us your name?"

Zaylee froze at his touch, before slowly turning around to face him. "Eli," she began softly, "You know me, and you've known me for a very long time. Just think a little harder. And when you figure it out, I'll be waiting for that duel." She gave him a small smile before heading back to her mecha and zooming off.

"I have got to meet her mechanic." Kord said, awestruck. "I've never seen a mecha go so fast! And how does she get the goo to turn her mecha invisible! That's so awesome!"

Eli groaned. "I don't know what any of that means!" He exclaimed, referring to his mystery girl's cryptic hint.

"You know, I might know someone who would," Pronto said suspiciously.

Eli looked at him hopefully.

"Pulse knows almost everyone in Slugterra. I bet she knows this mystery woman!"

"Pulse's information was almost impossible to figure out last time!" Trixie groaned, "Why would we go to her now?"

"Ah, but it was still good information, no?" Pronto tried to reason, "We were there for the show-thingy, and we helped bring about the downfall of Dr. Blakk's dastardly plan. So I say we go!"

"Alright, fine, we'll go see your girlfriend." Kord rolled his eyes.

"She is not my girlfriend!" Pronto blushed.

"Fine, very close lady friend," Kord winked.

They got on their mechas and followed Pronto to Pulse's house. Eli resumed his head banging of where this girl came from, and why she insisted he knew her.

Pronto sauntered up to the front door of Pulse's house and gave the secret knock.

"Who is it?" Pulse asked, looking through the peephole.

"It is I the Magnificent Pronto, and my gang."

Eli rolled his eyes at the notion of Pronto attempting to make it his gang, but he made no moves to stop him.

"How do I know it's you?" Pulse hissed.

"Well, uh, I… Do I have to say the secret password in front of them?"

"Dude, we already know it." Kord interrupted. "It's lovey-buggy."

Pronto's face turned crimson, but the door opened.

"Welcome again friends," Pulse purred, letting them inside her humble abode. "How may I help you today?"

"We were hopping if you might know someone." Eli piped up.

"I know lots of people." Pulse smiled politely, "Describe her to me." She smiled even larger, having a pretty good feeling who they were looking for.

"Well," Eli continued, "She started showing up about a month ago, and helped us out when we were in some serious binds, once, right before we came to see you the first time, and the day after when we- well I," Eli corrected, getting a glare from Trixie, "when I was seriously losing against Blakk." Pulse shuddered at the mention of his name, but motioned for Eli to continue. "We hadn't seen her again until today; we were having our butts handed to us by the Hooligang until she showed up, and basically saved the day." Eli said this rather begrudgingly, he hated needing the help.

"Interesting, interesting," Pulse said, examining her claws, "tell me, what does she look like?" She was enjoying this little game.

"Well, she's got brown hair, green eyes. She wears a spiked leather vest and bright blue boots and matching gauntlet." Eli offered.

"She's also got the coolest PAN-T3R model." Kord added, "It's the shiniest silver with blue detailing, modified to the best aero-dynamic capabilities, top-of-the-line high-powered engine, and this weird little slug-goo release system that makes her mecha turn invisible."

"It's an Invisius slug." Trixie reminded him. "She also has a lot of other cool slugs that I've never seen before. I don't know where or how she found them!"

"Hmm," Pulse mocked thought, tapping a pencil in an attempt to build suspense. "I believe you have met a Fox."

The gang cocked their heads, confused, and waiting for Pulse's next words.

"But not just any fox, Zaylee Foxx."

Eli's eyes widened as the memories rushed to him. Playing "slinger" in their back yards, walking to school together, all the time she helped him on his homework… And when they were older; her comforting him when his dad died-even though she believed that he wasn't- the day her dad came back from Slugterra, missing an arm and deciding to retire. Her begging her father to let her go, his jealousy when she did leave, the time she came back up, discovering her mother's new adopted child, her jealousy and hurt_. Her vow to never come back_. His promise he yelled after her that day… _As soon as I get down there, I'm going to duel you and we're going to see who the best 'slinger' is for real!_

"Eli? Eli! Snap out of it!" Trixie yelled.

"Huh, oh yeah," Eli mumbled. "Thank you so much." He said to Pulse. "Come on guys, we gotta go find her."

"Do you know her?" Kord asked, getting up as well.

"Yeah, yeah I do." Eli mumbled, still lost in a swirl of childhood memories.

"I wouldn't suggest leaving so quickly." Pulse spoke up. "Zaylee's a Foxx, and foxes are hard to find if they don't want to be found." She took a piece of paper from the mess on her desk and with her pencil wrote down directions to Zaylee's apartment. "Fifth story, apartment number 515."

"Thank you again, so much." Eli said.

"It's been my pleasure," Pulse purred. "Good luck."

"Thank you, thank you," Eli repeated, shaking her hand vigorously, taking the instructions and handing them to his tracker before bolting out the door and hopping on his mecha.

"Pronto, wait!" Pulse called.

"The Tower Club, tomorrow night at 8!" He called back from his mecha.

"I'll see you there!" She smiled before closing and locking the door behind her.

Zaylee was just getting out of the shower after her last encounter with the Shane Gang when she heard a beeping noise, informing her she had an incoming call. She threw on a bathrobe before clicking on the button that projected the face of Pulse on her wall.

"Hey, what's up?" She greeted her friend.

"Girl, do I have news for you!"

"Wanna do dinner?"

"No, it'll be old news by then."

Zaylee cocked an eyebrow, suspicious of her friend who just looked like the cat who swallowed a canary. It' wasn't really a far stretch… "Continue." She goaded.

"Well, you'll never guess who I just saw," she bubbled.

"Lemme guess, Pronto."

"Well yes, but, the whole gang was there too."

"I'm assuming it wasn't as depressing as the last meeting."

Pulse shook her head no. "They had just come from a fight with the Hooligang. They wanted information about a certain vigilante who had helped them out."

"You didn't."

"Well what was I supposed to do? Wait for you to tell them? As if that would happen. And it's not like Eli was going to figure it out anytime soon. He looked as surprised as a new born baby when I told him your name."

"Pulse…" Zaylee groaned.

"I also gave them directions to your apartment, so you might wanna get dressed." She said, referring to Zaylee's terry cloth bathrobe and towel turban on her head.

"Erin!" Zaylee exclaimed angrily.

"You'll thank me for this later, trust me." And with that, she signed off.

"Argh…" Zaylee complained as she threw on some clothes and searched the bathroom for her hair dryer and make up. She had just finished putting on black eyeliner and mascara when she heard a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" She sang, trying to act unassuming.

"It's… Uh… the Shane Gang," She heard Eli's suddenly uncertain voice come through the door.

Zaylee looked through the peephole, checking to make sure it was, indeed the Shane Gang. They must have ridden at top speed to get here from Pulse's so quickly.

She undid the five locks that kept her safe from most intruders, and stuck her head out the door. "May I help you?"

"Well we were, uh, wondering if we could, maybe come in, and talk?" Eli rubbed his hand nervously on the back of his neck.

Zaylee opened the door wider and nodded curtly. She was still mad that Pulse had given away her location so freely, especially to them. She walked over to the kitchen and poured the gang glasses of water as she had seen her mother do so many times when she hosted guest in her home. _Her mother…_ She shook the feeling off as she returned to the living room where the Shane Gang had arranged themselves. She handed them each a glass, and nervously perched herself on the arm of her couch.

"So… how have you been?" She started off. She hadn't felt this uncomfortable in her life. And she had been in more uncomfortable situations than she could count.

"Good?" Eli tried.

"So, how did you guys meet?" Trixie goaded unable to stand the awkward tension in the air.

"We were childhood friends." Zaylee explained. "When our dad's were working, we'd play, pretend to be slingers of our own, you know… what kids do."

"Your dad worked with Will Shane?" Kord asked.

"Yeah, there was my dad Micah, Will, their recon guy Tom- for a while anyways, and a cave troll named Amicus. My dad and Amicus continued fighting after Will disappeared. When my dad lost his arm, he retired, and Amicus decided to retire at the same time. He's now a mechanic, he does all my stuff."

"Well he does a good job." Kord said prideful at the mention of another cave troll slinger. "I'd love to see what tools he uses."

"I'll certainly pass the information on." Zaylee said, still feeling as awkward as an Aquabeek at a Flaringo party.

"So did you and Eli start slinging at the same time?" Trixie continued her interview.

"No, I convinced my dad to let me take over his job when I was what? Thirteen?" She looked at Eli for conformation.

"Yeah, and you ditched me!" Eli fake complained.

Much to her surprise, Zaylee felt herself laughing. "And daddy's boy over her obeyed Will's wishes and waited until he was fifteen. I'm seventeen now." She added.

Everyone let a little chuckle as Zaylee called Eli daddy's boy and he rolled his eyes in good humor.

"Well, it's been great, catching up." Zaylee said as she felt the awkward blanket fall over the room again.

"We actually came with an invitation too." Eli suddenly said. Everyone's eyes widened, he was thinking it wasn't he?

Zaylee listened patiently, trying not to give away her fear.

"I, well, we, could certainly use someone with your skills on our team. It'd be great if you could join us."

Zaylee frowned, she didn't want to disappoint Eli, but she really couldn't think of another way around it. "That's a kind offer Eli, really, but I'm more of a lone-wolf kinda person, it's worked out for me for four years, I think I'll be fine."

Eli not one to be deterred, pressed on, "Well how about that duel then? Title for best slinger? And how about if I win, you join us."

Zaylee struggled to stifle a laugh. "Alright 'lister, you're on."

Zaylee grabbed her blaster and the gang followed her outside, down to the arena behind the apartment where slingers were practicing their shots and dueling.

"Wow… this is nice…" Trixie said, absorbing the scenery through the camera lens.

"I thought so too," Zaylee smiled, "this is the reason I chose this apartment complex."

Zaylee led them to the center of the arena. "It starts here, everywhere is the arena though." She said loudly enough for everyone to hear. Slingers stopped their training and looked as the two well-known slingers got ready to duel. And without further warning, Zaylee shot her Frostcrawler, followed by a Flaringo. She frowned when Eli easily dodged both. He countered with his Tazerling which Zaylee quickly shot aside with a Jellyish. She shot out her Beamer in retaliation. Eli, unaware of the slug's abilities ran around the arena trying to avoid the laser beams coming out of its head. Zaylee took this opportunity to run to the nearest mushroom, climbing on top of it. Eli finally shot the Beamer with his Frostcrawler and put his hands on his knees, bending over gasping for breath. He looked up to see his opponent had disappeared.

Zaylee shot her Armashelt, KO next. Eli screamed as he saw the slug coming at him. "Remember kid, anywhere and everywhere is the arena!" Zaylee yelled as she disappeared to another mushroom. Yes, she was stalling, she didn't want to severely hurt Eli, but she did want to win. She hopped to the top of a rock and saw Eli loading up Burpy. "Now or never," She said to her Dinorawr, "Just, don't break anything ok?"

The Dinorawr chuckled as she loaded him up and shot Eli straight in the chest, knocking him flat on his back and Burpy out of his container. She used her Vinedrill Ivy to land her safely near Eli, snatching his blaster, signifying that she had won.

"You've come along way, but you've still got farther to go if you want to beat me." She said offering her hand to help him up.

"Alright, point taken." Eli winced as he got up. "But if you ever change your mind, the offer still stands."

"Thanks," she smiled. "Now you best get out of here before any of the other guys here want to take a go at you." She nodded her head in the direction of the other slingers in the arena who were watching him hungrily.

"You just always seem to know what's going on around here, don't you?"

"I've been doing this a bit longer kid." She winked. Zaylee watched them leave, and then went back up to her apartment to call her friends. They were going to love this story.


	4. Power Struggles And Genetic Attunement

**For any of you Storm Hawks fans out there, notice how I used the word Attunment in the title? Gee I wonder what that might refer to ;)**

Xia followed closely behind Zaylee on her mecha, not entirely wanting to be here, but Zaylee insisted she needed the elf's help, so she came, loyal to one of her best friends.

The two had heard there was a scientist organization called Biotechnology Experimentation and Engineering causing trouble by enhancing slugs with strange chemical compounds, making them almost as much of a threat as Blakk and his ghouling was. Since Zaylee considered Xia the most technologically knowledgeable out of her friends, she had insisted Xia help in stopping the organization. However, Xia would say this was far below the bottom on the list of things she wanted to do.

They stopped at the edge of a precipice scanning for the group of evil scientist.

"Crap." Zaylee muttered.

"What?" Xia asked.

"We're not the only one's here."

"Well of course not… Oh." Xia stopped mid-sentence, her eyes locking on the same group of people Zaylee was. Of course, it was no other than the Shane Gang. "This is too dangerous for them, what are we going to do?"

"We have to talk them out of this. As soon as we get them out of here, we'll scare the scientist back into hiding. Sound like a plan?" She got off her mecha and slid down the rock walking quickly over to Eli and his gang. Xia shrugged, still not all that excited about being here, and followed suit.

"Zaylee, Xia, here to join the Shane gang unearth the cause of the reported disturbances in this cavern?" Eli flexed his arms trying to act macho. The two girls just rolled their eyes.

"Actually we know what the disturbance is." Xia said.

"And it's not something you want to mess with." Zaylee concluded.

Eli became serious. "Why not?"

"There's more than one evil in Slugterra, and you're not prepared to handle what this one is capable of."

"Look, it can't be anything compared to Dr. Blakk." Eli argued, not wanting to leave.

"If it's different, I wanna get it on my camera to expose it." Trixie piped up.

"No, no, no. You guys have to leave." Zaylee insisted. "This is too dangerous."

"We're not leaving." Eli commanded.

"Yes, Eli. You are." Zaylee narrowed her eyes, trying to take control of the situation. She stepped toe-to-toe with Eli, her gaze faltering for only the shortest second when she realized Eli had grown a good head taller than her in the years they had been separated. "Eli, you're not ready for this, you're putting yourself in serious danger."

"I do that all the time."

"You're going to get hurt."

"I do that all the time too. And I'm still fine and here today."

"Eli, you don't understand. We've done our research. These people kill first and ask questions later. And if you do survive, they'll experiment on you until you explode."

"You need to go." Xia repeated, backing up her friend.

"No."

"Stop acting immature." Zaylee growled.

"Stop mothering me!"

Zaylee stepped away from Eli fuming. He hadn't changed a bit, still 100% the stubborn Shane she had left him as. "You need to leave." She repeated one last time before turning to Xia. "Let's find them."

"Why are you going after them if they're so dangerous?" Eli called after her, still not done with the argument.

"Because I know what I'm dealing with! I'm prepared for almost anything they throw at me!" She pulled a gas mask out of her boot. "You seem to forget I've been doing this much longer. You're not ready for this. Go find someone else to save." She turned back to Xia, "Come on, let's go find them."

"Too late," Xia's face had gone blank, staring at her communicator's screen where two red blips were approaching the group quickly. "They found us."

Zaylee bit her tongue to avoid yelling at Eli and blaming this all on him. Instead, she loaded her blaster with her Dinorawr and got ready for whatever came their way.

It started with a rumbling beneath their feet. Then two giant robots aimed with cannons rolled into the clearing.

Xia held up her com to scan the machines. "They're armed with chemicals!" She yelled.

"We can't blow them up then can we?" Zaylee asked.

Xia shook her head.

"Can we shock them out?"

"Maybe."

"Eli, shoot your Tazerling into the robot on the right. I'll take the one on the left. Trixie, then I'm going to need you and Kord to fire Arachnets at them so they don't get away."

"Wait, since when did you start calling the shots?" Eli asked, somewhat peeved.

_Because it's your fault we're in this mess! _"Because it'll work. Just do it!" Zaylee shot her Tazerling at the robot on the left and then looked to Xia as she heard three more successive shots.

"I'm going to need you to try and disarm and neutralize the robots, and keep them here." She nodded in the direction of the Shane Gang. "I'm going after those nuisances." She pointed in the direction of two white and navy docked henchmen and started running back to her mecha.

"Where is she going?" Eli asked incredulously.

"She's going to do her job."

"By herself?"

"She's been doing it this way since before I met her. Just listen to her and get out of here. She's always right."

"But that won't save her."

"Eli, she's going to be fine!"

"I'm going after her."

"Eli! Argh!" Xia groaned, unable to stop the determined teen. She turned to the other three members of the gang, who stood frozen, unsure of what to do. "Which one of you knows the most about mechanics?"

Zaylee goaded her mecha into fifth gear, pulling down her glasses as she goaded her mecha past 100 miles per hour. Amicus' new upgrade was amazing. She easily rode past the two henchmen, and cornered them between her mecha and the face of a tall rock. "Send your boss a message. This is not your territory, nor will it ever be." She raised her blaster and the slinging began.

Eli rode as fast as he could, but he couldn't keep up with Zaylee. His only hope was to follow the sound of her engine. "Not much of a stealth machine any more, huh Burpy?" The orange slug laughed in agreement. He continued riding until he saw Zaylee's mecha and Zaylee fighting two men with odd looking slugs. He smirked a bit; Zaylee was actually on the defensive, and starting to lose.

Zaylee looked at Eli and frowned. Why on earth would he think following her here was a good idea? Why had Xia not stopped him? And most importantly, who hadn't wiped that smirk off his face yet? She cursed as she narrowly avoided another chemically enhanced Grenuker. She had forgotten about their re-engineered slugs.

"Looks like you could use some help." Eli chortled.

"I'm doing fine, just get out of here."

"Funny how the tables have turned; trust me Zaylee, you'll thank me for this later," the annoyingly familiar words coming from his mouth made Zaylee want to slap him a second time.

He shot a Phosphaller into the fray and when the smoke cleared the henchmen looked up and Eli and Zaylee were back-to-back, blasters raised, Charlie's Angel's style before the fight began again.

The fight had suddenly changed. The two teens were choreographed perfectly. When one ducked, the other shot. When one shot an ice slug, the other followed with a fire slug. Neither of them said anything. They dodged together, their shots were perfectly timed. It was the same way their fathers shot and had taught them to shoot when they were younger. It was the same way they had shot when playing 'slinger' in each other's backyards, up against some made-up evil villain or hideous monster. Neither of them had to say a word, but the two easily took the offensive, shooting at the henchmen as they turned on their heels and ran in unceremonious retreat.

"It's been a while." Zaylee said softly. She was awestruck at the way they had so easily fallen back into the rhythm of their childhood games.

"It's in our DNA." Eli commented, feeling just a little closer to his dad in that moment.

"We should go back." Zaylee said, returning to her mecha. Eli nodded in agreement as he mounted his. "Just try to keep up." She winked, putting her glasses back on, revving her mecha and speeding off. After the initial shock Eli followed her back to the clearing where Kord and Xia were still trying to disarm the robots.

"Who were those guys anyways?" Eli asked.

"Biotechnology Experimentation and Engineering," Xia stated matter-of-factly. "Zaylee discovered them about a month back. We've been trying to stop their progress ever since."

"They use chemicals to enhance slugs. It's like ghouling, but they use different compounds in different ways to mutate the slugs to the desired effects." Zaylee informed the Shane Gang.

"Why wouldn't you ask us for help? We're more than capable of stopping them. Clearly." Eli couldn't help but smirk at Zaylee.

She wanted to punch him so badly. Kord's groan as he tried a different wrench to disarm the robots reminded Zaylee of the situation. She blew out a breath attempting to calm herself as Xia went over to help Kord with the giant grey masses of metal.

"Yes, you can help, but we don't need you yet." Zaylee glared at Eli, her fist still itching to make contact with her snarky younger friend's face. "They're not a big threat yet. This sign of aggression is disturbing, yes, and we know we need to figure it out. But right now, Blakk is a bigger threat, and you need to be worrying about him. There's enough evil in Slugterra to go around. Focus your energy on Blakk, and I'll focus mine elsewhere."

"Well you always seem to be getting involved with Blakk as far as I can see."

"Only when you needed help!"

"And you clearly needed help today."

"I would have been fine." Zaylee closed her eyes and blew out another frustrated breath, reminding herself to sound reasonable. "This is too dangerous for you Eli, I just don't want you to get hurt. These guys are murderers, slugs aren't the only thing they've killed or mutated."

"Then they need to be stopped! Now!" Eli yelled, equally as frustrated with Zaylee.

"They are dangerous, evil, and a threat, but Zaylee's right. She's always right. Right now, Blakk is making serious headway in his evil schemes. We need to stop him before we can think about stopping this organization." Xia said standing up from her work on the robots.

"You weren't right about running off to stop those henchmen on your own." Eli directed angrily at Zaylee.

"What is your problem today? I was doing just fine. Are you just going to stand against me at every turn!? Are you still upset about losing to me in a duel?"

"No! I'm mad you're mothering me!"

"Who else is going to keep you from dying!?"

"You would have lost if it weren't for me."

"I was doing fine! If you must know, I was going to shoot my Acus into the top of the rock, creating a rock slide, distracting them, and then I was going to shoot my Beamer, the same one if you remember that kicked your butt when we dueled, at them and send them running. As follow up if needed, I would have shot my Tazerling at them for good measure to make sure they don't come back!" Zaylee was fuming now, fist clenched with heavy breathing, their connection moments before forgotten, merely seconds away from challenging him to a duel again, when Xia interrupted.

"Alright, so I think Kord and I have successfully detached the chemical containers."

"What do you want to do with them?" Zaylee asked, suddenly professional and composed again.

"We need to dispose of them, but I'm too afraid to take them anywhere because they're so unstable."

"We could bury them and use a timed explosion."

"Still too dangerous."

Zaylee groaned, today was becoming way to stressful. "Then what?"

"There's not much here, the area's basically unpopulated, so we could create an above ground explosion. It won't do anything to harm the slugs, we just have to be a safe enough distance away."

Zaylee didn't see how this was any better than a below ground explosion, but she went with it. She followed Xia back up the cliff to where their rides were, the Shane Gang and their mechas close behind.

"Ok, Eli, can you shoot your Infurnus down there?" Xia looked to the sullen teen.

Eli silently complied.

"And Trixie, you have a Tormato right?"

Trixie nodded; everyone was thrown off guard by Eli and Zaylee's power struggle. They were too afraid to speak. Trixie shot her slug at the chemical cloud, creating a tornado that swept the poisonous gasses into a contained area and eventually distilling them into a non-lethal amount. Xia was tapping the holographic projection of her screen quickly, taking readings and writing out long equations, compiling data on the gas and the robots themselves.

"Let's go." Zaylee told Xia curtly, who nodded in agreement as she put away her communicator. The two headed back to their rides and rode off.

"Dude," Kord slapped Eli upside the head, "what was with you today? You had a fuse shorter than a Grenuker."

"Nothing." Eli said, waving the question and concerned looks off. "Let's just go home."

He rode in silence, the happy jokester side of him gone, worrying his friends. He refused to talk to them about how Zaylee had been mothering him ever since they were kids, and now, even when he was older, and had been taking care of himself for a while without her. Yet she suddenly felt the need to interfere, take over every situation, and tell him what to do when she hadn't talked to him since the last time she had been up to the surface world three years ago. She was just a show-off with fancy slugs and a high speed mecha. Their attunement in fighting meant nothing. She was just a pain and nothing more.

Zaylee was out taking out her anger by repping her slugs in the training arena behind her house when she heard footsteps behind her. She quickly spun around, blaster raised, ready to fight.

"Hey, it's just me." Xia raised her hands in innocence. "I found out what the robots were for from this morning."

Zaylee motioned for her to continue.

"The chemical combination was highly unstable and possessed properties that would mutate water type slugs. My guess is they were going to the flumes. There's an entrance not too far from the cavern we found them in. We're fortunate we didn't shoot any water slugs today."

Zaylee nodded in agreement. "So what were they planning to do with it?"

"I hacked their data bases and I found an article talking about mutating Aquabeeks in particular. It's nothing different from what they've been doing, but we do need to keep an eye on it. Just because we stopped them today doesn't mean they won't try again."

"I know." Zaylee said gravely. "But we'll be ready. Just next time we need to get there before the Shane Gang does. Whatever got under Eli's skin is not something I need to deal with ever again during a dangerous situation like that." She brought a hand to her temple, the stressful day beginning to take its toll on her.

"I don't think you'll be able to avoid him. He and his gang are making their presence well known through all of Slugterra. We may be the invisible vigilantes with more notches on our belts, and better skills, but they're soaking up the spotlight and becoming the people's hero. You won't be able to avoid him forever. You'd be better off talking to him about it and working something out."

"I'm not good at talking." Zaylee admitted, turning back to her practice.

Xia walked forward and pushed her blaster down, forcing Zaylee to look her in the eyes. "How else are you two going to co-exist here? If you can't get along, you need to be able to act like it. What happened to that great friendship you were telling Pulse, Dana and I about?"

"I don't know." Zaylee frowned. And that was pretty accurate. She had no idea why Eli suddenly got so upset at her, he had never yelled at her like that before, but she knew she didn't like it.

"Alright, if I can't avoid him, and it happens again, I'll talk to him. Right now though, I have other things to worry about." She raised her blaster again and shot a Flaringo, burning the entire target to a crisp.

"I'll see you around." Xia smiled weakly.

"Be safe." Zaylee called after her.

"You too."


	5. Secrets in the Shadows

**(If it's in italics that's because it's technically a different language~) Intrigued by that statement? Then read on! **

"Come on guys! This way! It'll be faster!" Eli called. They were rushing towards what they heard was a disturbance caused in Cork Screw Cavern. Thanks to no other than the infamous Dr. Blakk.

"Uh…" Trixie slowed her mecha to a halt. "Are you sure you wanna go this way?"

"It's the fastest way. Come on!"

"It's also through Shadow Clan territory." Kord warily reminded his friend.

"We'll be fine, we've got Burpy to help us out." Eli shrugged his friend's concern off. Burpy chirped happily in agreement, but the rest of the gang was still unconvinced.

Leaving no room for further argument, Eli headed straight for the darkened area that was the Shadow Clan's home. The rest of the gang groaned, but followed their trusty, though often brash, leader.

Shorty, Glasses, and Billy pulled their mecha beasts to where the Shane Gang had just been.

"Do we have to go in?" Shorty asked nervously.

"We don't have a choice." Billy responded. "This is the only way we can redeem ourselves to Blakk. We either do this right, or we're dead meat. Probably more literally than we'd like."

Shorty and Glasses took a gulp, and reluctantly followed their leader.

_They're back._

_Why are they here?_

_Their presence is not welcome._

_We must make them leave._

_No._ Zaylee's command shot through the hiss of Shadow people. _They mean no harm. You know that. _She stood on top of a cliff, concealed with other members of the Shadow Clan, including Mfalme, the leader.

_The rest of them cannot be with the Shane. They are unable to understand. _Mfalme repeated.

_You've told me of them. I've heard plenty more stories. They are just as good as Eli; let them be. They are not here to take this place away from you. They are not here to hurt you or hunt you. The Shane needs them, and together they will all help you._

Mfalme grunted. He didn't like the uninvited, even if it was the Shane Gang. But he treated Zaylee with the same respect that she treated the Shadow Clan. And he saw great potential in Eli as a Shane.

Both Mfalme and Zaylee suddenly whipped their heads back to the path as the clan detected another group of people passing through.

_I do not know them. I do not like them. _Mfalme stated.

_They are not good people. _Zaylee informed him. _Do your will with them. Make sure they don't return_. The leader howled in response, rallying his troops and went after the Hooligang.

"What are you doing here?" Zaylee muttered, looking back at the Shane Gang, even though she knew they couldn't hear her. "They're all waiting for you." She mounted her mecha beast and quietly rode to catch up with them.

"They aren't even paying attention to us!" Trixie whispered, awestruck.

"They must recognize you." Kord smiled at his leader.

"Told ya we were fine." Eli smiled, rubbing the top of Burpy's head proudly.

"Or they are waiting for the right moment to strike!" Pronto whispered, still shaking in fear.

"Doubt it," Eli shrugged his comment off, trying to hide his honest fear in the Shadow Clan's indifference.

"We've got different company though." Kord said, pointing to a sliver mecha beast above them.

"It's been a while since we've seen her." Eli muttered. He was still sore about their last encounter, even though that was weeks ago.

"That means there's trouble ahead." Trixie frowned.

"Yeah, why else would she be here? She just wants to warn us about our impending doom and tell us to go away and what not." Eli bit out, sarcasm and malice dripping from his voice.

"Dude, chill." Kord cut in, fearing a repeat of last time.

Zaylee had heard Eli's last comment, and was moments away from calling the Shadow Clan back to attack him, or at least to leave him to those waiting for him on the other side of the pass, but he was still her childhood friend. She was here to help them, whether they wanted it or not.

She jumped down to the road they were on, her mecha landing neatly next to Eli's at the front of the group.

"Hello," she smiled, only the slightest bit of disdain hiding behind her eyes when she looked at Eli.

"What do you want?" Eli practically spat.

"Well if you don't want my warning, that's fine." She tossed her head and started to pull ahead of the group.

"What warning?" Trixie cut in, praying Eli wouldn't do anything to stupid to piss Zaylee off; anymore than he already had anyways.

"Tell me," Zaylee began instead of directly answering, "Why are you here?"

"It's the quickest way to Cork Screw cavern," Eli hissed.

"And why would you be going there?"

"We heard Blakk was causing trouble." Kord said, blocking Eli's angry answer.

"And where did you hear that?"

"Well, I heard it on the street?" Pronto started to defend his information.

"And do you remember who said it?"

"Well uh, no, not exactly," Pronto twiddled his thumbs.

"So how do you know it's not an implant from Blakk? You need concrete proof if you're going to go running off on missions like this. Blakk has his means and methods if he wants to get rid of you." Zaylee tried to make her advice to the young gang sound as polite as possible. "I heard through perhaps a more reliable source, your girlfriend to be exact…"

"What! Pulse and I-" Pronto rushed.

Zaylee and Kord both gave him a look.

"Pulse told me Blakk was planning to ambush you." Zaylee continued. "There's supposedly a group of his allied slingers waiting for you at the exit of this path."

"And do you have proof?" Eli glared.

"I saw them send the Hooligang in after you to block off your retreat. They were going to attack you from both sides. But I wouldn't worry too much about that though; the Shadow Clan took care of the Hooligang at least."

"And how did you survive them?" Pronto queried.

"We have an agreement. Much like the one you must have wagered with them to make it so far."

Eli let a proud smile cross his face.

"The Shadow Clan were the original inhabitants here. Before humans, even before Cave Trolls and Moleniods. People struck deals with them, and it was simple for a while, until Slugterra's other residents wanted more, much like the pioneering days with Indians."

"With who?" Trixie asked.

"Nothing." Eli quickly tried to cover, glaring at Zaylee. She just continued like the slip-up hadn't happened at all; "People began to take over and develop their territory, pushing them into smaller and smaller, less desirable regions. Their only hope was to fight back, that's the only way they can maintain what is left. They are truly good, but they have no other choice."

"We never learned that in school," Trixie frowned, suddenly feeling sorry for the once fearsome Shadow Clan.

"They only teach you in school what they want you to know. The rest you have to find out on your own." Zaylee said sagely. "But back to what's really important. There is more than likely an ambush waiting for you at the end of this path. The path up there," Zaylee pointed to the road she had been riding on earlier, "leads to a different exit, one less known, that overlooks the exit for this path way. If you use that exit, you can escape unharmed and either go upon your merry way to Cork Screw, where there may or not be people in peril, or you can teach Blakk's lackeys a lesson. My personal opinion is the second one, but your choice is up to you, regardless of what I do."

"And if there's not an ambush?" Eli challenged.

"Then you go on your merry way, and I have to figure out what the Hooligang was up to." Zaylee responded coolly, examining her nails to try and look as nonchalant as she felt angry.

"I think it's best to go along with Zaylee." Trixie suggested timidly, still aware of Eli's hostility towards his childhood friend.

"If that's so, Eli, you have to let me call the shots for a bit. Is that alright?" Zaylee tried her best to sound reasonable and polite.

"How do we know if you're right?"

"We don't know who's right, but it's safer this way so you're not walking into an ambush, if there is one."

"You just have to step in," Eli seethed, "I think we'll be fine."

Trixie rolled her eyes and Kord mouthed, "Here we go again."

"I'm not doing this to undermine your authority," Zaylee tried to reason, but she was losing patience. "I usually stay out of your way and let you do your own thing. But if I think you're in danger, I want to help. This is one of those times. And I'm usually right about these sorts of things. We used to be best friends; I don't want something terrible to happen to you. I've been doing this for quite a while, and honestly, I've gotten kinda good at it."

Eli just rolled his eyes as Zaylee gripped her mecha tightly to avoid punching Eli in the face as she had the frequent desire to do.

"We'll take your route." Trixie decided, tired of their fighting.

"What?" Eli practically yelled.

"Lead the way," Kord motioned to Zaylee. She nodded and turned towards a slope that led the way to the upper path.

Eli glared at Zaylee the whole way through the rest of the road. Zaylee just shook it off, trying her best to take Xia's advice and at least try to coexist. For now.

_Do you want us to deal with him? _Mfalme's voice cut through her mind.

_No, I will deal with him in my own way._

The light at the exit of Shadow Clan territory was now visible. Zaylee continued to lead the pouty Eli and his annoyed friends through the exit to a bend in the road that overlooked the lower exit.

"Was I right, or was I right?" She beamed, unable to hide the triumph from her voice as she pointed to ten muscular men armed with ghouls waiting around the lower exit.

"But-" Eli frowned.

"I'm always right." She reminded him. "I've been doing this for-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, 'for much longer than I have'." Eli finally snapped, trying his best to keep his voice at a whisper to not alert their would-be attackers. "When are you going to stop holding your experience over my head?"

Zaylee glared, the one thing she had always held against Eli finally coming out. "When you stop holding your name over mine." She remembered all the times they had argued over who would lead in their child hood games, the older one, or the Shane. Eli remembered it too, but clearly not in the same way Zaylee had. They had both thought their reasoning was the proper reasoning, but neither of them really made any effort to explain how they really felt about those arguments, and neither of them had really gotten over it; they had just ignored it until now.

The rest of the gang stared wide-eyed at the two, waiting to see the next development in their drama.

"Now, you have two options." She said curtly. "You can either go on your merry way to Cork Screw Cavern, or join me in kicking butt." She didn't wait for them to answer, but dismounted her mecha, and slid down the rock, loading her blaster as she went.

"We're going to help." Eli muttered, still angry, but there was a seed of guilt starting to grow in the back of his mind, realizing he may not be the only one who had been wronged all those years ago.

"Hello boys," Zaylee said; all her anger and energy coming out in a cool, menacing look. "But I believe you missed your target." She heard the Shane Gang coming down behind her, loading blasters and taking aim behind her. She wouldn't let her joy show in her features however; she was still incredibly peeved.

"How…" One of them began.

"Doesn't matter," said another, "Just shoot them!"

And so a battle began, the ten men quickly pushing the four teens and the Molenoid to the edge of the road, below them, a steep forty foot drop.

"Got a plan for this?" Trixie asked fearfully.

"Yeah, don't stop shooting." Zaylee and Eli answered at the same time. They looked at each other. They both knew how easy it would be to take the offensive and win, but were they willing to put aside their issues for it?

They looked behind them, seeing nothing but air. They looked back to each other and nodded. Both slingers took a step forward, firing Flaringos. They took another step forward, dodging a Hop Rock that flew between them. Another step forward and their opponents were forced to take a step back as Eli shot his Armashelt and Zaylee shot her Grenuker. The next step and they were back-to-back, both firing Hop Rocks. The next step and their friends fell in line behind them, forcing the ambushers turned ambushed, back another step. One more step and the men were forced into the entrance to the Shadow Clan territory, one more shot and they were clear in side.

"Have fun," Zaylee winked, _They're yours now_. She looked at Mfalme who had appeared behind the men. Mfalme howled and the men tried to run, but it was too late, they were surrounded.

"How did you know that would work?" Eli asked.

"I know a lot of things." Zaylee said curtly, still remembering their fight from earlier.

"You two fight like a well-oiled machine!" Kord exclaimed. "I've never seen anything like it!"

"Well it was nothing compared to Pronto the Magnificent!" Pronto began, "Now let me tell you about the time…" he went into a long-winded story which everyone else ignored.

"It's nothing really," Zaylee tried to wave it off, but the compliment had turned her cheeks red.

"Yeah," Eli agreed awkwardly, also blushing slightly.

"Hey, are you even listening?" Pronto yelled.

"Absolutely," Kord sarcastically nodded.

"Well, we should go check on Cork Screw anyways, just for safe measures." Eli said.

"Fair," Zaylee agreed, "You better get going in that case."

"You could, I mean, I guess, join us for the rest of this mission, if you'd like I guess." Eli tried, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. From the looks of it, Kord was pressuring him into this offer.

"No, you go ahead, I've got other things to check up on." Zaylee said, registering the situation. "It looks like you've got this one covered. Besides, you know me, I'm a lone wolf, and your team, as great of a team as it is, isn't for me. You'll do just fine without me." Zaylee's tongue burned as she forced out the compliment, instead of some angry words that she still had in mind for Eli. But deep down, the compliment was sincere. She saw Eli's mouth twist up in a smile, grateful for not accepting, but even more grateful to hear such a compliment from someone he still looked up to so much. "I'll uh, maybe see you around." She said quickly before heading to her mecha. She rode off as quickly as her mecha could take her; desiring to get out of there as quickly as possible, her awkwardness almost suffocating her.

"That could've gone worse." Kord said as they headed up the hill back to their mechas.

"Yeah, and your fighting style was awesome!" Trixie agreed. "Next time you two fight together I have to get it on video!"

Eli gave a weak smile in agreement. "To Cork Screw then?" He asked, dying to change the subject. His team nodded in agreement, and away they went.


	6. Runaway Train

**Sorry I didn't post anything yesterday, had filming and a football game to march at... Maybe I'll post a second one today to make up for it. We'll see.**

"I hate to insult you dear Eli, but I think this may be one of your worst ideas EVER!" The Molenoid yelled at him, barely dodging another spinning Thrasher.

"We're fine guys." The young Shane tried to console his team, but there was no denying the fact they were in way over their heads as Zaylee would say. Eli shook his head, angry with himself for using sayings from the girl he was angry with.

"How does Zaylee do it so easily?" Trixie asked, shooting her Tormato slug at a Jollyfist, creating a huge, messy explosion.

"Fancy slugs." Eli growled.

"It's not just that though." Trixie continued, "She can do that whole 'take the offensive' thing so easily."

Eli frowned, yes, she was good, heck, she was amazing. And not even that cocky about it. Yes she always mothered him, but maybe he did do stupid things a little more than he should. And that seed of guilt that had buried it's self in his mind a week ago had blossomed into a gigantic tree. Perhaps he did pull the "Shane" card a lot when they were younger. He shook his head, trying to ignore the guilt as he avoided another Hop Jack. Zaylee did pull the age card a lot when they were kids too though, so it wasn't entirely his burden to carry. But taking the offensive seemed like a good idea as it flashed through his teenage brain. So without thinking twice on whether or not it was a good idea, he jumped out from the rock he was hiding behind, and tried to mimic Zaylee's fearless, flawless fighting style.

She had said she wouldn't help them again. She and Eli had an unspoken agreement to not get in each other's way. Their friendship was dead, but they respected each other and didn't interfere in each other's fights. They had known each other long enough to see it in each other's eyes last time they had seen each other. But as Zaylee looked at the Shane Gang outnumbered and overwhelmed with ghouls, she felt the itching need to help. Even more so when she noticed what they were fighting for. Slugs, a whole train car full of them, on their way to be ghouled. She'd just ask, if they said no, she wouldn't get upset, not too much.

Eli saw the glint of silver and blue riding to meet them. He rolled his eyes, did she have to get involved? Then again, he thought as he narrowly avoided a Thrasher, only to be hit by a Grimmstone, maybe her slinging abilities would be helpful in this occasion, just once.

The Grimmstone flung him right to Zaylee's feet. "Need some help?" She asked, trying to sound more nonchalant and less smug.

"We're fine." He automatically said.

"Alright then," she turned on her heels to leave.

"Wait!" He called, realizing his mistake. At that moment a Hop Jack was aimed right at Zaylee's turned back. Eli realized this and pulled her down on top of him just in time. Zaylee choked on her sassy retort and struggled to untangle herself.

"Damn henchmen, shooting someone when their back is turned," she growled sitting up. "It's personal now. I don't care if you want me or not, I've got a bone to pick." She grinned slyly; glad to have a reason to join the fray. And Eli was certainly glad he didn't have to beg for her assistance after turning her away.

She shot her Acus into the fray, stepping up to the rest of the group who were trying to hide behind various rocks.

"You know you won't win on the defensive." She repeated her advice, shooting at a Hop Jack that was heading towards Kord.

"Surviving is more important in my opinion." Pronto spoke up.

"Eli tried to take the offensive." Trixie said, shooting her Arachnet as she joined the two, "I think you see how that went."

Zaylee nodded, an unwanted blush rising in her cheeks at the memory.

"It's just not the same without you." Kord said, "I mean, when you two are together, you're unstoppable. He's a great slinger as is, but situations like these are just sometimes hard to handle."

Zaylee smiled at the comment, but there was a hint of hurt in her voice when she said; "Just because we fight well together, doesn't mean we can't stop fighting long enough to get along. He's as stubborn as his father, and once I started slinging, I developed my own stubbornness, so it's just become a power struggle."

"It was always that way." Eli corrected darkly, him and Pronto joining the other three, positioning themselves to try and take the offensive again.

Zaylee's face grew dark as well. The more she thought about it, he was right, they always fought each other for the alpha dog spot.

"So do you have a plan?" She asked to no one in particular.

"Not much of a pre-planner." Eli huffed, "more of a wing it and see where it goes."

"I'm surprised you've made it this far." Zaylee remarked. "So how is your no-plan working out for you right now?"

Eli shot her a glare. "Do you have a better idea?"

"To get rid of the goons? We're doing just fine." She said, firing another slug at the henchmen, who were beginning to retreat. "But you know as well as I do the slugs on the last car are going to become ghouls if you don't have some sort of a plan." She motioned to the stand-still train that had been halted when the Shane Gang had started their attack.

Eli grunted. She was right, but he'd rather eat Pronto's cooking for the rest of his life than admit it.

"Your Speedstinger!" Trixie suddenly exclaimed.

"You're a sharpshooter?" Zaylee asked incredulously.

"As a matter of fact, I am." Eli replied rather smug.

"That will work better with a moving train." Kord mentioned, catching onto the plan, similar to the time they had teamed up with Mario Bravado.

"I can handle that." Zaylee said, shooting a path through the remaining henchmen. "You guys take care of the rest." She ran towards the train, hoping her way from car to car until she got to the front engine. She hopped in through the roof, startling the conductor.

"Hello," she smiled, "And goodbye," She chuckled as she knocked him out cold.

The Shane Gang fought their way through the henchmen, Pronto saving them with his Flatulorhinkus and a Bubbaleone somehow. "See, you are not the only sharpshooter around here." He bragged proudly afterwards.

The gang headed on to the train, hopping onto the car full of cartons of slugs. Zaylee was watching out the window and hopped she didn't lose any of the team on the open cart as she lurched the train forward.

Curious to see how this ended, she put the train on auto pilot, climbed back to the top and began making her way to their car as the train sped forward.

"I hope you know what you're doing!" Trixie yelled as they continued to suffer an onslaught of ghouls from henchmen running after the train.

"Of course I do." He said, loading his Speedstinger. He took at deep breath, waiting for the turnstile to appear. He watched it come into focus, took another breath, closed his eyes and aimed.

The slug shot the bolt that held their car to the rest of the train, knocking it lose. The slug then ricocheted off, heading to the turnstile, hitting the arm that switched the tracks, and rolling the free car away from the rest of the train. Zaylee hopped off and began running towards the car as henchmen converged from both sides, streaming out of the train now, and the others from before, still running after the runaway car.

"I uh, hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the car's slowing down and they're catching up." Kord pointed to the large swarm of henchmen coming their way as the train car lost momentum.

"I've got your back!" Zaylee panted, out of breath, as she jumped onto the side of the car, shooting her slugs at the army of henchmen.

"Get the slugs to safety!" Eli yelled, joining Zaylee.

The other three nodded, picking up as many cartons as they could carry. Which meant Kord was carrying four while Trixie dragged two along, and Pronto struggled with the last one.

"Ready?" Eli asked, getting in their almost signature back-to-back position

"Whenever you are," Zaylee winked, taking aim.

And the two fell into their unstoppable fighting patterns, shooting Bubbalones to trap henchmen, Vinedrills to incapacitate them into fits of itching, and Rammstones to knock them out cold. But they were still out numbered no matter how great of slingers they were, there were just too many, and there were some slugs Zaylee didn't want to reveal quite yet under the circumstances.

"I'm running out of slugs." Eli warned.

"Me too." She lied.

"It looks like they're ready to go." Eli said, jerking his head towards the rest of his gang over by their mechas. "Shall we join them?"

"Agreed."

_For once._ They both thought. Eli shot Burpy to give them a firewall to escape behind, and they ran off to join the others.

"I missed the chance to catch you two on camera again!" Trixie complained when they reached their mechas.

"And from the looks of it, you were awesome again!" Kord added.

The two smiled in appreciation as they mounted their mechas. Kord helped Pronto get the last carton of slugs into the cart they had hitched onto Pronto's mecha before mounting his own.

"We should find a safe place to release these slugs." Eli suggested.

"Sounds like a plan to me."

"You wanna join?" Eli asked a little more seriously this time.

"I think you can handle it." Zaylee said, the malice finally dissipating from her voice, honestly wanting to see Eli succeed on his own.

"So we go our separate ways again?"

"It looks that way, but hey, I enjoyed that. So if you ever need a temporary fifth member, don't hesitate to call." Zaylee offered honestly.

"See you around then," Eli sounded kinda dejected, but he understood.

"Yeah, see ya around 'Lister." Zaylee winked, using Eli's old nickname, before riding away from the group, smiling, feeling like old times again.

Eli smiled too, watching her ride off, happy that their argument and battle for power seemed to be over.


	7. Shine a Light On That Secret: Part 1

**Felt bad for not finding time to post yesterday, and chapter six is a bit shorter, I know. So here, have some more now~ A two-parter? Cliff hangers? Oh dear! Nah, you haven't read the worst of it yet by any means, so hold on tight!**

Zaylee prided herself in not needing others help. But she also prided herself to know when she was about to bite off more than she could chew. So when the second attribute outweighed the first, she knew who to call. Not the Shane Gang, no, she'd never do that. She'd always call two of her best friends, Xia and Pulse. So when Zaylee had seen the large shipment of Dark Water heading toward Blakk's fortress she had called them immediately, and albeit a bit hesitantly, they had agreed to come along.

"They're here." Xia suddenly said, not even bothering to look up from her communicator. They were crouched down behind a rock, looking down from the edge of a cliff onto Blakk's giant fortress.

"Well no duh, they're everywhere." Pulse quipped, uncomfortable as she looked on at the fortress that represented a large part of her past.

"Not what she meant." Zaylee muttered, understanding what Xia was implying. "The Shane Gang," she clarified.

"Are they trying to get themselves killed?" Pulse gaped.

"Do you want an honest assessment or an answer to make you feel better?" Xia deadpanned, still tapping away at the holographic screen in her hands.

"They'll be fine." Zaylee said, waving the comments away. "We just have to get in before they do and get them out if they get in too much trouble." She stood up and loaded her blaster with her Dinorawr. Her friends hesitated, still crouching at her feet.

"Or," Zaylee offered, "I can go with them and you two could go back."

"I'd rather be anywhere but here." Pulse admitted, beginning to inch back to her mecha.

Zaylee looked at Xia. "I'm fine, go." Xia smiled appreciatively and followed Pulse out of the cavern.

Zaylee sighed as she made her way to the fortress. She wanted to give Eli his space, but she knew this time, they'd need to help each other out.

_Some more than others._ She thought as she watched the Shane Gang attempt to get in through a loading dock, shooting the door down with a Hop Rock. She covered her ears for the inevitable alarm but could still hear them panicking until Eli shot the siren with a Jellyish, silencing the loud noise.

"If that doesn't bring a whole army to them, they'll be lucky." She muttered as she shot her Vinedrill across the cavern and grabbed onto it as it took her to the roof of the menacing fortress. She had a much more covert way of getting into Blakk's home sweet home. She lifted the grate that covered the air vent, and jumped inside.

"Eli, do you even know what we're looking for?" Trixie asked worriedly, aiming her blaster at every corner and shadow.

"Yeah, a lot of Dark Water."

"Well, this place is huge so how do you expect to find it before one of Blakk's henchmen finds us?

"Not to worry, Pronto's excellent tracking skills will lead you there!" He sniffed the air and headed off, leading the gang down corridors and winding hallways, and then snout first into El Diablos Nacho.

"Huh?" Proto mused, wondering what had stopped his tracking, but as he looked up, he let out an ear piercing scream and ran behind Eli.

Nacho just growled, and raised his blaster, shooting out a Tempesto followed by a Hop Jack and a Nightgeist. Eli barely had time to respond, shooting out his Bubbaleone and Joules to save his team. The four took up positions behind columns, and began shooting at the monster with no avail.

"Ugh when was the last time Blakk sent someone up here to clean this?" Zaylee muttered swiping away another spider web as she crawled through the air ducts. When she thought about it; the cobwebs and dust bunnies probably hadn't been wiped away since the last time she had gone snooping around here.

Her Fimber slug suddenly squeaked and hopped out in front of Zaylee.

"What is it Snoop?" She whispered.

The slug led her through the ducts until she was above an air vent, looking down on the Shane Gang having their butts handed to them in a duel against El Diablos Nacho.

"Well that's not good." She muttered as she put her Fimber back in his tube. She began quietly working the air vent open, careful that none of the screws dropped on Nacho's head. She landed neatly on the ground below her, right behind the green monster.

"You're done kid." He hissed as he pointed his blaster at Eli, who was stupidly out in the open.

"No I think you are." He smiled, seeing Zaylee behind Nacho. He raised his Infurnus as Zaylee loaded her Acus. They shot Nacho from both sides simultaneously, knocking him out so he saw stars.

"Thank goodness!" Trixie exclaimed.

"Rule one of breaking in here. Don't set off any alarms!" Zaylee hissed. "Rule two, avoid Blakk and Nacho at all costs. Also, Eli, you're an idiot. Do not face someone that strong out in the open by yourself." She smacked him upside the head and he just rolled his eyes as the matronly side of Zaylee came out.

"You're mothering me." He said in a warning tone.

"Let's just find the Dark Water and get out of here." Zaylee growled, the old anger beginning to rise again.

Eli nodded curtly and they began upon their quest again. "Any idea of what you're going to do once you find it?" Zaylee asked.

"Neutralize it?"

"With what?"

"Doc." He lifted the little green slug out of his tube.

"I saw that shipment. No offense, but I don't think the little guy can handle it all."

"We could cart it out." Trixie offered as they began to check behind doors for the dark water.

"Again, it's a huge shipment." Zaylee frowned. "More importantly, where would we put it?"

"What were you doing here on your own anyways?" Eli asked offhandedly.

"I had two of my friends with me." Zaylee defended, "But once they saw you, I let them leave, they're not big fans of this place. Otherwise I wouldn't have intruded on your team"

"It's not really intruding." Eli amended, "We really needed the help back there too."

Zaylee smirked, trying to cover her pride.

"Which friends?" Kord perused, the conversation taking his mind off the looming challenges ahead.

"Xia and Pulse." Zaylee answered.

"Ah yes," Pronto smiled at the mention of Pulse's name. "Erin told me about her time here."

"What do you mean?" Eli asked warily.

"She worked here for a while, when she was trying to find more information about her father's business." Zaylee told them

"Your girlfriend worked for Blakk?!" Trixie yelled at Pronto.

"She was his daughter." Zaylee told the team, hoping Pulse wouldn't get too mad at her. "She left him once Blakk started ghouling slugs, but before she could get out she fell into a vat of Dark Water herself, that's why she's part cat."

Eli frowned. "I thought Dark Water…"

"Dark Water has different effects on different people, just like it affects different slugs in different ways. Each person and each slug is different. Each ghoul has a different personality based on who they were before they were ghouled. In the same way, each person reacts differently. Some people forget who they were before, but some people are strong enough to fight it off. Besides, I don't think that much entered Pulse's blood stream, that's when things get scary."

"What do you mean?"

"You know how slugs breathe through the pores on their skin?" Zaylee asked. Eli nodded. "They absorb the atmosphere into their body, and into their blood stream. If dark water got inside your body, it would most likely have the same effect."

"You sure do know a lot about this." Kord prodded.

"Pulse stole some files when she left Blakk Industries, I read up on them after I met her. They're quite insightful. Blakk did a lot of test before he was actually successful."

"I'd like to get my hands on those documents too." Eli said as he peeked through the window of another door.

"Ask Pulse next time you see her."

The conversation was dying down as they reached the end of the corridor.

"Alright," Trixie challenged Pronto. "Where is it?"

"Nearby…" Pronto waved his hands around mysteriously, "I can sense it."

"How about that door?" Eli asked sarcastically, pointing to a steel door that looked to be about three inches thick. The sign above said "Transfer room."

"That would make sense." Zaylee marveled.

"I wonder why it's in a transfer room." Trixie looked up at the sign.

"It means this isn't its final resting place." Eli said darkly.

"How do we get in?" Kord tapped the door looking for weak spots.

"The fun way." Zaylee grinned, loading her Acus into her blaster. "Shoots a hole through anything." She winked at the awestruck team as she shot the slug at the door and it left a gaping hole, large enough for even Kord to get through.

Eli couldn't help but laugh in amazement, before being quickly silenced by the contents inside the room.

"That's a lot of Dark Water." He gawked as he saw the huge clear container holding bubbling red liquid at the center of the room.

"Ok, we found it," Kord repeated. "But how are we going to get rid of it?" He began looking around the room examining the controls. "They didn't exactly leave a user's manual or anything."

Suddenly Zaylee wished she had brought along the tech genius, who could crack any code, and the ex Blakk Industries employee.

"Can you figure out a bit quicker?" Eli asked the worry seeping into his voice as he heard menacing footsteps coming down the hall.

Zaylee quietly loaded her blaster with her secret weapon.

"I'm trying!" Kord complained.

"Just keep it up; we'll hold them off as long as we can!" Zaylee yelled, taking her position next to Eli. Trixie took the other side and Pronto pretended to intently observe the machinery with Kord.

"Whatever you do, don't freak, I'll explain later." Zaylee warned as an army of Henchmen led by no other than Nacho came into view.

"What do you mean?" Eli asked.

"It'll work on everyone but Nacho, so aim wisely!" she just answered cryptically.

As soon as all of Blakk's men turned the last corner, Zaylee shot her Vampenkyeko at the crowd. Many of them passed out immediately, their slugs drowsy, but not completely out, others sluggishly continued, exhausted, their ghouls too tired to transform, no real threat.

"What-?" Trixie asked awestruck, she had never seen that slug before.

"I'll explain later!" She yelled, beginning to unload the rest of her slugs at Nacho. The green monster had easily shaken off the effects of Zaylee's Vampenkyeko and was advancing towards them, his ghouls easily overpowering their own slugs.

"What do we do?" Trixie asked worriedly.

"Pronto!" Kord yelled behind them, "What did you touch!"

"I uh, nothing!" The Molenoid tried to defend himself. A loud beeping noise accompanied by a red flashing light filled the room as the Dark Water started to drain from its container.

"NO!" Nacho yelled.

"I suggest we go now." Eli offered shooting a Phosphaller to distract Nacho.

"That's your best idea all day." Zaylee joked as she ran out behind them. Eli shot Burpy through a red-tinted window, and then shot his Bubbaleone below them, allowing them to safely land on the ground.

"Let's move faster!" Kord yelled as sirens began to sound from every part of the building.

"Uh guys…" Eli pointed to red veins starting to grow beneath the earth.

"Pronto must have drained the Dark Water into the cavern." Zaylee mused, staring at the glowing red rivers.

"It's going to turn this place into a wasteland!" Kord yelled.

"Give Blakk a taste of his own medicine." Eli grinned.

"Yeah, us too though if we don't get out of here fast," Zaylee reminded them. "Just uh, avoid the red." She said jumping over a ribbon of the life-draining water.

The team followed her lead, "Just like hot lava when we were kids huh?" Eli joked.

"Yeah, sure…" Zaylee grimaced, balancing on one foot, looking for the next place to land; the water spreading quickly. "Just much more dangerous," she griped as she finally made it to the wall of the cliff. She began climbing, grabbing onto small crevices, her incentive being her high-speed mecha at the top. Eli was next behind her, followed by Trixie, and then Kord, who for time's sake, just threw Pronto to the top.

"How are you so good at this?" Eli panted, looking around for the crevice where Zaylee just had her foot, only seeing smooth rock.

"I've had lots of opportunities to scale walls while running for my life." Zaylee laughed, as she effortlessly made her way to the top. She waited, holding out a hand to help the others up while Pronto went on, despite the trouble he had caused, about how he had really saved the day. Which was somewhat true. He had destroyed probably gallons of Dark Water that Blakk had no chance of regaining any time soon. He had just also potentially destroyed the entire cavern.

"Let's go." Zaylee said, "I know the quickest way out of here."

"How do you expect us to keep up with that?" Kord asked; pointing at her shiny mecha as the Gang retrieved theirs.

"I guess I can go slower for you," she sighed. "Just hurry though." She said as henchmen docked in hazmat suits with blasters loaded came out to hunt for them.

"Lead on." Eli offered, and Zaylee headed out of the cavern, hiding the huge smile on her face as Eli let her take the lead.

"Hey, what was that slug you shot at the henchmen?" Trixie reminded Zaylee as soon as they were a good distance away from the citadel.

"Oh, this is Styx, he's a Vampenkyeko." She said, lifting the slug out of his barrel for everyone to see. "He drains your opponents and your opponent's slug's energy. It's really useful when you're so heavily outnumbered like that."

Eli looked at it quizzically.

"No it's not ghouled." She quipped, "It was my dad's. And I had Xia check for good measure."

"Why doesn't it work on Nacho?" Eli asked.

"I've never been able to figure that out. It won't affect your friends if they accidentally get shot by it, but it should affect him. I don't know why he seems immune" Zaylee frowned.

"Why didn't you use that slug the other day when we were outnumbered by the train?"

"I don't like using him that often. If Blakk somehow got his hands on this, I don't like to think what would happen. The more I use it, the more likely Blakk is going to want it." Zaylee carefully put the slug back in his container. "Without him and my Invisius though, I don't think I would have made it this far."

"They are certainly some great slugs." Trixie smiled.

Zaylee smiled in return, "This way." She said, leading them away from Blakk, the quickest and in her opinion, safest way she knew.


	8. Shine a Light On That Secret: Part 2

The Shane Gang followed Zaylee cautiously aware of their darkening surroundings, down twisting pathways, treacherous jumps and tight turns. Zaylee seemed to know the way by heart and went through quickly with ease and speed, but her followers struggled to keep up, and were now acutely aware of the still darkening surroundings.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Kord asked.

"Perhaps Pronto should take the lead," the Molenoid suggested.

"This is the quickest way." Zaylee assured them. "But more importantly, it's the safest."

"Are you sure about that?" Trixie asked, noticing Shadow Clan markings on the wall.

"This feels more like out of the frying pan and into the fire than safe to me." Kord gulped

"Hey, at least Blakk's men won't follow us through here." Eli tried to lighten the mood.

"That's not entirely true," Trixie reminded them, "Zaylee said the Shadow Clan picked the Hooligang to shreds before."

"I think Blakk has enough on his hands right now. And the Shadow Clan won't give us any trouble," Zaylee stated, "Trust me."

"How do you know? Do you even know how long that 'agreement' of yours is good for?" Kord challenged, beginning to freak out.

"Trust me." Zaylee repeated.

"They didn't seem to bother us earlier." Eli reminded them. "Besides, if worst comes to worst, we've still got Burpy."

Zaylee smiled, knowing their previous safety was partially thanks to her. With that, she led her mecha straight into a cave teeming with Shadow Clan.

The Shane Gang looked nervously around them, a plethora of black and green creatures prowling around them, and over their heads. Eli was the only one brave enough to push forward, attempting to keep up with Zaylee's confident riding. He wouldn't show it, but he was equally as nervous, the sheer number of Shadow Clan creatures a bit disturbing. The Shadow Clan had begun walking around them, making everyone but Zaylee quiver in fear. She however; looked at them as if understanding their strange language, an amiable look taking over her features. Eventually, Mfalme joined the group, taking a place right next to Zaylee's silver and blue mecha.

_You are back quite soon my dear, with the other children and their Infurnus slug as well._

_We needed sanctuary, Blakk and his people are after us._

_We will protect you my child. Many times you have protected us._

"Uh, Zaylee, what are you doing?"

Zaylee froze, she hadn't realized she had been looking directly at Mfalme during exchange.

"Uh, it's a complicated story." She tried to defend. Mfalme sent a roar, sensing Zaylee's sudden discomfort, but she shot it down with a harsh look.

"Zaylee, would you care to explain?" Eli looked apprehensively at her and Mfalme. He was thoroughly confused and creeped out by this point.

"I remember my dad said your father needed a device to speak to the Shadow Clan," She began, taking her time to reach the truth, "I never needed such a device, it's always come to me naturally. It was natural for my dad as well."

Eli and the rest of the Shane gang just looked at her slack jawed.

"That's impossible…" Kord managed to sputter out, looking at Zaylee and the leader of the Shadow Clan, still calmly walking beside her.

"Nothing's impossible." Zaylee sighed, turning her head away suddenly feeling very uncomfortable and awkward again. "I'm living proof."

_You are brave to tell them. _Mfalme spoke to her.

_Some people can handle the truth. I trust them. So should you. _

_The truth is light._

_There is light that can only be seen in the shadows._

_For shadows can only be seen with light._

Zaylee smiled at the saying before turning to the Shane Gang. "Follow me."

"Again?" Pronto asked incredulously, wanting nothing more than to run away as fast as possible.

"Have I led you into trouble yet?"

"We're not quite sure…" Trixie quaked.

"Just follow me." Zaylee called already pushing ahead, continuing her conversation with Mfalme about the Shane Gang and recent Blakk Industries activities.

_He a brave, fearless human, _Mfalme mused about Eli._ A Shane no doubt, he has the potential to be a great Shane. Very few people have their destiny written out for them, but I can see his very clearly. He destined for greatness and no doubt will fulfill it. Make sure he achieves that destiny._

_Are Foxxes to be nothing more than enablers? _Zaylee sighed, still a bit envious of Eli's birth right.

_My child, you have your own great destiny ahead of you. You know that. But you must also see your destinies are intertwined. Your auras are aligned, even if you cannot see that, we can._

Another Shadow Clan Member nodded in agreement.

Zaylee blushed, turning her head so Eli wouldn't be able to see the color in her cheeks.

_We are almost to the entrance. _Mfalme reminded Zaylee. _Your friends have abounding questions. Stay safe and may we meet again. _Mfalme said before disappearing with a small blip in a cloud of smoke.

"What were you guys talking about?" Eli asked quietly as soon as the leader disappeared.

"Lots of stuff, I'm actually pretty close with them. Meeting them was one of the first things I did when I came down here."

"And they didn't rip you to shreds?" Kord asked incredulously.

"No, like I said, I have a different connection with them than most people have. I don't know what it is, but I know I have it." Zaylee shrugged. She didn't tell most people about her ability to talk to the Shadow Clan so easily. It did tend to freak people out.

"Why didn't you tell us you could talk to them before?" Trixie asked.

"Some things have a specific time and place to be told." Zaylee said sagely, mimicking Mfalme's proverbs. "That was the right time for you to know. It's not something I like to show off."

"That's still a pretty cool thing that you can do." Eli murmured, still awestruck and a bit jealous at how calm the Shadow Clan had been around her.

Zaylee smiled, they were approaching the exit of the territory. That meant they would part ways soon. Some invisible string was holding her back though; her run-ins with the Shane Gang were becoming more frequent, and more fun. She sighed, they weren't her people, nor were the Shadow Clan. She was a lone wolf, not part of any team. She raised herself up, preparing for the most painful goodbye she thought she'd ever say to them.

"Well, this is where we part ways," she managed to get out without her voice hinting any sign of regret.

"You sure?" Eli asked, looking deep into her eyes. Zaylee looked away so Eli couldn't see her desire to stay with them dance across her face.

"You could always join us for dinner." Kord offered.

"Yes! I make the best casserole if I do say so myself!" Pronto bragged.

"As enticing as that sounds, I have other things to do." Zaylee said the idea of Pronto's cooking shocking her out of her stupid wants. She made her way to the turn towards her cavern. "Be safe!" She echoed Mfalme's words before she left them. They waved after her, all rather dejected at Zaylee's refusal, watching her leave before continuing on to their hideout.

**I always thought that the Shadow Clan communicated on a more telepathic level, which is why Eli needs the head piece. He just doesn't know that he just has to project his thoughts. So yeah, Mfalme and Zaylee can communicate on a semi-telepathic level. Just go along with it for my sake. Hope you liked it~!**


	9. Blakk Magic: Part 1

**More two-parters? More cliffhangers? Oh what terrible things could I have in mind for the young Shane?! Only one way to find out!**

"Come on guys!" Eli yelled after his friends. They were riding their mechas at top speed, pursuing Blakk's henchmen towards the looming citadel. Slugs and ghouls were being fired back and forth, causing the rocks to tremble around them.

"Come on Eli, we should turn back." Trixie called after the black haired boy. "We're going to get crushed by these rocks!" And if to prove her point, Pronto let out a scream, barley avoiding a giant boulder.

"Yeah," Kord agreed as a Thrasher zoomed by his ear. "I think this is the sorta situation where Zaylee would say we're over our heads or something like that."

Eli rolled his eyes. "We're going to be fine! We are not biting off more than we can chew, and if we do get in to serious trouble, I'm sure Zaylee will show if we need her."

"Just because she's been here to save our butts lately, doesn't mean she'll be there every time we need help." Kord warned.

"Well, I'm sure we won't need her help." Eli huffed; shooting a Rammstone and knocking a henchman clean off their mecha. "We're totally capable, see?" he assured them, as they sped past the fallen henchman.

They continued towards the cavern Blakk called home. The Dark Water that Pronto had released into the ground appeared to have done no damage to the area. They continued riding, chasing after the henchmen.

"Eli, we should seriously consider going back!" Kord yelled, as slugs continued to hit the rocks looming above their heads, causing the whole cavern to shake.

"No! Whatever they're carrying can't be good!" Eli pointed to the giant cart in the center of their enemy's ranks.

Eli pressed on, ahead of the rest of his Gang. He shot Burpy, the slug flying out at full force. He wasn't going to give up.

"Eli!" Trixie's voice rang out behind him. She sounded so far away. Had they decided to turn back? He turned around to look for them, but a mountain of rocks blocked the path. He turned back around. The henchmen had taken the offensive, and he had no escape. He raised his blaster, but found it empty. He blanched. He had no other choice but surrender.

Trixie looked at the rocks blocking the path and separating the Gang from their leader.

"We need to go back and save him!" she demanded, "There's no telling what they'll do to him!"

"It's too dangerous." Kord said, "We aren't strong enough to pull a rescue mission right now."

"But I am sure he will be fine," Pronto offered.

"We have to find Zaylee," Trixie was bordering on hysteria. "She'll know what to do!"

"Don't bother; she's out until the weekend doing some sort of mission with Xia and Pulse." Pronto informed her.

"Where!? We have to go find them!" Trixie yelled.

"I'm not sure," Pronto frowned, "Erin was very vague about the whole thing."

"And they won't be back until this weekend!? Do you know how far away that is!?"

"I doubt she'd even help us, she probably has other things on her plate to deal with." Kord admitted.

"And besides, I am sure Eli will return before then." Pronto smiled, trying with increasing effort to hide his uncertainty.

But Trixie wasn't convinced. She just knew Eli was in trouble.

"I'm surprised you haven't killed me yet." The young Shane tried to joke with the henchman who was leading him down the corridors of Blakk's fortress.

"No," A deep voice came from behind him. The henchman stiffened. "Blakk has other things in mind for you." The voice continued. Eli hesitantly turned around and found himself face to face with El Diablos Nacho. Blakk's second in command grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved him into a holding cell the terrified henchman had opened.

"Make sure he doesn't escape." Nacho barked at him.

"And you!" the monster called to a passing crony, "Find his slugs!"

The trembling guards in grey gave a nervous salute as Nacho stomped off.

Eli sat dejectedly in the cell, having tried every means of escape and failing; not even able to get out of the stupid room. He sat on the floor of the empty hole, wishing that is friends would hurry up and get him out of this mess. What was taking them so long anyways? Zaylee would have had him out of here in under an hour, so why was he still here?

He continued searching his brain for answers, when the door to his cell opened, and no other than Dr. Blakk stood in its entrance.

"Well Eli, I'm so glad you finally decided to show up." He smirked.

Eli just grimaced at the man while two henchmen handcuffed him and led him behind the imperious villain.

"I gotta say your little cavern cleaned up nicely after last week's incident." Eli tried to sound as menacing and fearless as possible.

"Please Eli, Dark Water doesn't destroy things, it only enhances things. This cavern was made for Dark Water, and now, in my opinion, it's better. So I suppose I owe you a bit of thanks."

"It's still prone to rock slides," Eli sneered, referencing the morning's events.

"Ah yes, this morning," Blakk smiled. "I must thank you again. Even if it pains me," He sneered. "That shipment got here twice as fast as I expected it to. And I even have a test subject now. All thanks to you."

Eli frowned; worry beginning to clutch at his heart. "What was the shipment?"

"Just a little something from an old lab of mine. I've had many failures with it, lacking the proper subject. But I think it's time to rev it up and give it another go."

Eli's frowned deepened. "And what exactly does it do?"

"For that my dear boy, you will have to wait and see." Blakk grinned evilly at Eli before turning to another henchman.

"Make sure the machine is ready when I get there. I don't want to waste any time."

The henchman nodded and ran ahead of the group. Blakk continued walking at a leisurely pace, Eli being forced along behind him.

"It's really quite a shame it doesn't work on everybody. I can't imagine what I would be capable of if it did." Blakk talked on, referencing his mysterious machine. "But I'm sure it would be wonderful. However, it only seems to work on strong slingers; that's where you come in. And I just know you'd be happy to oblige in this little test."

"Not really." Eli deadpanned.

"Shame, you don't really have a choice." They had reached their destination, and a door automatically slid open, revealing a dark colored lab, and men running around in protected suits making the final preparations.

Eli looked up at the contraption. It was huge, built to fit a person with shackles that completely covered the hands and feet, and needles everywhere. Supporting the contraption was a huge container full of Dark Water. Eli gulped, he had no escape. Blakk nodded to Nacho, who took the boy and strapped him to the contraption, clasping the black and red shackles to his hands and feet. He winced as he felt needles prick his fingers and wrists, as well as the balls of his feet and the back of his ankles. Next, Nacho proceeded, attaching needles to the veins in his neck, arms, legs, and sides, taking special pleasure when he saw the subject wince in pain.

"Good work, before you know it, he'll be just like you." Blakk smiled to his green henchman. "Perhaps even better. I'm sure your other master would be incredibly pleased about the progress on this machine." He grinned as he put on a protective suit of his own before flipping the switch. The dark water began to glow, entering the tubes and going through the needles attached to Eli's body. He began screaming in pain as Blakk laughed maniacally.

Eli never knew what he was really getting into when he took the plunge. Making new friends, reconnecting with old ones, and saving the world were all things any Shane could expect to experience. But facing such an evil as Dr. Blakk? No, he had no idea what he was getting into. And now he was in over his head with no way out. Zaylee was right, and he wished so desperately that she was here to save him. However, neither she nor any of his other friends were here to save him. He was about to see the true uncensored power of evil, and he wasn't sure he would live to tell the tale.

He wasn't sure if the dark water that was about to be injected into his veins would poison him, or kill him.


	10. Blakk Magic: Part 2

**The length of this chapter should make up for the last one~ Can Zaylee save Eli? Will she? And what other drama do I have in store for our teenage heroes? Keep reading and please don't hate me for the ending!**

Zaylee hunted through the giant leaves and mushrooms of the obscure cavern searching for any traces of B.E.E or their contraptions that had been causing an alarming amount of trouble lately. The company had been making their presence increasingly known, and that was a problem. A big problem.

She, along with Pulse and Xia, had come out to this cavern, so obscure it wasn't even named on their maps, knowing it was a B.E.E hot spot. They were searching for any answers to the new threat. They had been communicating back and forth with their slugs, Zaylee being the most left out, no Hypnogriff in her arsenal to help her out. She had been searching around in the cavern without contact for over an hour. She hoped her friends were okay. More importantly, she hoped she would be ok.

Eli didn't remember who Eli was any more, who Burpy was, who Trixie or Kord or Pronto were. He was now called Nero by his master Dr. Blakk and his co-worker Diablos Nacho. Nero DeVeleno was all he was now and all he'd ever be. There was no saving him, no cure. Well, no known cure. Dr. Blakk knew that even though his slugs had escaped due to that accursed Infurnus, there was no way that it would ever occur to his incompetent "gang" that a Boon Doc could possibly save him. But even if they did figure it out, it was unlikely he could be saved. Dark Water did that to a person.

Nacho and Nero sat together drinking shots of the dark water. Neither of them talked. The only thing on their minds was destruction. Specifically of the remnants of the Shane gang.

Blakk had given his new creation, or what he called now his "left hand man", a special assignment. "I want you to find Zaylee Foxx and bring her back here. Preferably alive, her fate is going to be quite similar yours. Do this to prove your allegiance to me."

Nero had just grunted, and headed off with his new arsenal of ghouls to hunt out this "Zaylee" and please his all-powerful master.

Trixie sat in tears inconsolable by Pronto and Kord. "It's lost," she whispered, "Everything is lost."

"That's not true." Kord repeated for what he felt like was the thousandth time he'd said this. "There's still hope. Right? C'mon Pronto, tell her there's hope."

"Well, of course, right…" The Molenoid said. "There is always hope and…" he trailed off, finally without anything to say.

"But what can we do?" Trixie sobbed. "Zaylee won't be back for another two days!"

Kord and Pronto continued to try and console Trixie, 1001 times would be the charm right? But it was no use. It only got worse when Eli's entire arsenal, led by Burpy, came in, looking dejected and worried, and most importantly, without Eli. Trixie just looked at the slugs and burst into more tears.

"This means something's seriously wrong!" She wailed. "We have to do something!"

"Ok, I'll admit, this doesn't look good. But we can't go running off trying to save him when we don't know where he is, and more importantly, how to save him. Without Zaylee and her slugs we have no chance." Kord reasoned.

"We have Burpy!" Trixie exclaimed, a wild look entering her red, puffy eyes.

"That's not going to be enough." Kord said. The orange slug growled at him. "I'm sorry, but we just can't do this. Eli wouldn't approve us putting ourselves in unnecessary danger for his sake. We need to wait for Zaylee to get back and then we can re-group and think this through clearly."

"I don't care! I'm going after him!" Trixie exclaimed, but she didn't make it to the door, over come with another wave of grief, she collapsed on the floor and allowed Kord to carry her off to her room and tuck her in bed without a fight.

Zaylee crawled along the ledge of a cliff, looking left, right, up and down. She had this nagging feeling of paranoia, but then again, when didn't she? It always clawed at the back of her mind. Most days she could ignore it. In situations like these though, it put her on full alert. But she supposed it helped her stay safe.

There was noise echoing in the pass below her. She shook it off, there was no way. The pass was narrow, stuck between two cliffs, and she could see every inch of it for what she thought must be a mile. She continued searching, looking left, right, up, and down. She looked down again. Something new that wasn't there before appeared almost directly below her. How had she missed it? She had no idea what it was either. It looked like El Diablos Nacho. But that was impossible… Maybe it was one of B.E.E's experiments. But how did they get it to look like that? She shook her head. Sling now, questions later. She jumped down from her perch, trying to be as graceful as possible from fifteen feet, wincing a little when she didn't land quite right.

"Hey!" She yelled at the pale blue-skinned fiend. "What are you doing here?"

"Find and destroy the slinger." The thing said.

"Who sent you?"

"My master."

"And who's your master?" Zaylee didn't like this guy's vagueness. Or the way he looked for that matter.

"Blakk." He said simply.

Zaylee began to understand. He was like Nacho.

"What's your name?" She continued.

"Nero DeVeleno."

"You must be new to this." Zaylee said, her lips beginning to curve into a devious smile, "So I'm going to help you out. This isn't your territory, and you are certainly not welcome here. So slither back to whatever God-forsaken cavern Blakk pulled you out of or I'll do it for you. Oh, and if you live to tell the tale, tell your boss the Foxx says hello."

Nero's black eyes widened. Foxx. He was to capture her. He wasn't sure why, she appeared to be a sassy pain in the neck, but whatever his master wanted. Without warning he began to fire ghouls at her. Zaylee reacted quickly, but her ankle protested as she moved to avoid the powerful ghouls. Her eyes widened in fear. Whatever this thing was, he was extremely powerful. And she was in over her head. He knocked aside everything she shot at him and he was coming in on her fast. His fighting style seemed so familiar, but she didn't have time to think about that.

"Find Xia and bring her back to me!" She commanded her Fimber, shooting him out into the cavern. She then shot her Vinedrill upwards and grabbed on to a vine, the slug pulling her away from the fight and this new evil henchman.

"It was bad." She later told her friends as Pulse wrapped her ankle.

"It looks like we've got a lot to deal with." she said ominously. Xia nodded in agreement. What they had discovered concerning B.E.E wasn't good news either.

"Do you have any idea on what it may be?" Zaylee asked Pulse, still worried about this new monster. If anyone had a clue, it'd be Erin Pulse. She just shrugged and shook her head.

"Let's just get home and figure all this out from there." Xia said. The other two nodded in agreement.

Pronto burst into the room where Trixie sat, surrounded used tissues. "Pulse is back!" He triumphantly announced.

"That means Zaylee is back too!" the red head squealed. She ran into the garage where Kord had been taking sanctuary.

"We have to go to her apartment now!" She demanded, getting on her mecha.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down Trix," Kord began, "We need to go about this calmly, surgically. I mean, don't you think it'd be a good idea, to oh, I don't know, change out of your pajamas, and oh, maybe have a blaster?"

Trixie looked down at herself. "Oh yeah."

Zaylee sighed getting out of a steaming shower. Her mission was only successful in finding out that there was way more evil in Slugterra than there needed to be. She had just finished drying off her hair when she heard the knock on her door. She looked through the peephole, and recognizing the Shane Gang, she undid the five locks and opened the door for them.

"What's up?" She asked. She blinked, realizing something was wrong. Trixie was in a disheveled state. It looked like she had been crying for three days straight. She blinked again, noticing something she should have noticed first. Eli was missing. "What's wrong?" She corrected her statement.

The gang sat down in her living room, and a sobbing Trixie managed to relay the story of Eli's disappearance. Zaylee nodded, the gears turning in her head. Then everything hit her. Eli was Nero. Somehow, Blakk had managed to… No, was that possible? Had Blakk somehow figured out how to ghoul people? Zaylee shuddered. If it was true, there was only one possible cure, and it might not even work. That didn't even take into account all it was going to take just to get to him to save him. If they could still save him at this point, that was.

"Do you have his slugs?" Zaylee asked suddenly, interrupting Trixie's sobbing.

She nodded, producing Doc and Burpy.

"Perfect, this is all we need." Zaylee said grabbing the two slugs out of Trixie's hands and getting up to prepare.

Trixie's face lit up. "You'll help us?"

"Of course I'll help you." Zaylee huffed, as she began to gather the rest of her slugs and her blaster. "He used to be my best friend. I'm not going to let Blakk do any more damage to him."

Trixie's face palled again. "Damage… More?"

"He should be fine." Zaylee reassured her. "But we need to hurry." And with that, she shoved the Shane Gang out the door, locking it behind them, and began sprinting down the stairs towards her mecha.

The Gang followed behind, struggling to keep up with her mecha, even after she slowed down for them. Kord muttered a few things about needing upgrades like hers. She rode with ease and speed through her short cut, greeting Mfalme quickly as she rode before continuing onward. She stopped at the top of a cliff, looking downward on the back of the fortress.

The other three came in warily behind her, clearly uncomfortable with the settings, remembering what had happened last time. Even without Eli they could still be heroes. Right? It just wasn't the same without a Shane to lead them. But they could do it. They had to do it. For Eli. Zaylee was certainly a great hero, but very vague on her plans, and all four of them silently agreed that Eli was a hero and leader much missed.

Zaylee looked at the team. It was unlikely that Kord or Pronto would be able to fit through the air ducts. "Here's where it gets tricky." She said, breaking the solemn silence as she loaded her blaster with her Invisius. "Just follow my foot prints until we get inside."

She shot the pale slug into the air above them and he let out a flash of light and a dome of goo that covered the team, turning them invisible. Zaylee headed off to Blakk's back door, the others following behind her their eyes glued to the ground occasionally bumping into each other.

The poor guard standing outside the door didn't have a chance. Zaylee hit him hard over the head with the back end of her blaster-which was titanium for these purposes- and grabbed his key card. She slid the piece of plastic into the reader and walked right in, the mission going on so far, without a hitch.

The other three filed in behind her, the Invisius goo starting to wear off.

"Alright, Burpy, Snoop, this is where you come in. You know what to do." The slugs started chattering to each other, about what Eli had turned into and where he would be.

"Wait," Trixie interrupted, "You name your slugs too?"

"Yeah, Will Shane and my dad did it; it actually creates a stronger bond with your slugs." Zaylee looked down at the two slugs in her hand. "You guys ready?" The slugs nodded. Burpy jumped back into a container on her belt, and Snoop jumped into her blaster. Zaylee shot him down the corridor and took off running after the golden trail of energy in his wake.

Snoop stopped suddenly, and quickly returned to his home in Zaylee's arsenal. Her green eyes looked up, curious of Snoop's sudden fear, and gasped. That was Eli alright, or Nero as he now preferred to be called. Next to him was Nacho. And if things weren't bad enough, an entire army of grey-clad henchmen stood behind them.

"Uh… That's bad." Kord gulped finally catching up to Zaylee.

"Who's the blue one?" Trixie asked as she joined them.

"Nero DeVeleno." Zaylee said, afraid to tell the whole truth. "More than likely from the same origin as Nacho."

"He looks familiar," Pronto said warily after he finally caught his breath.

"If I'm right, there's an excellent explanation for that. And a cure as well. If I'm not right, we could be in big trouble."

"Explanation? Cure?" Trixie asked.

"Sling now, questions later!" Zaylee yelled as Nacho finally started the fight. She pulled out her Vampenkyeko, shooting the dark blue and purple slug between the two monsters and draining the human part of the army of their energy.

"Now for the tough stuff. Guys, can you handle Nacho? I need to take care of E—Nero myself."

"No promises." Kord faltered, narrowly avoiding a Grimmstone. The three shot at Nacho, who easily evaded all their tactics.

Zaylee stared Nero down. "So we meet again." She sneered.

"And you have walked into your doom." His deep voice growled at her, a look of evil triumph on his face.

Zaylee shuddered; it was so evil on so many levels. But she didn't have time to think about the moral and scientific wrongs of Nero's creation. She had a duel to win. And this time, she was prepared. Eli shot out a Tempesto, which Zaylee countered with her Tazerling, shocking the ghoul into submission. Nero shot out another ghoul, and Zaylee shot her counter-attack, narrowly avoiding his possessed slug.

Trixie, Kord, and Pronto looked on at her dumbfounded. Nacho had somehow suddenly disappeared, leaving the only battle between this new monster and the older vigilante.

"There's no way she's going to win like that." Kord muttered.

"She's using up all his slugs; eventually she'll be able to take the offensive and knock him out." Trixie explained.

"If she has any slugs left."

"She'll be just fine. She's got Burpy, no one can beat that slug."

"It's not a guarantee. That thing's pretty strong."

Zaylee grinned, she saw Nero look down at the strap across his chest to find it containing one last slug. He growled, shooting the ghouled Hop Rock with all his might. Zaylee didn't hesitate. She shot Burpy at the monster; the Infurnus, with only the slightest bit of remorse, knocked him off his feet and surrounded him in a ring of fire.

"Well done, but what are you going to do now?"

All five of them looked up to see Dr. Blakk standing at a balcony looking down at the scene. Nacho was behind him, ready to attack when Nero was finished.

Zaylee glared her meanest darkest glare at the two. "The purest hearts cannot be tainted Blakk!" Zaylee yelled. "You're about to learn that! And you and I both know I can and will do this again!" She glared him down, and then turned her darkened stare onto Nacho. "You're next, both of you, so start running!"

Blakk frowned. He knew a serious hero when he saw one. She was no different than her determined and crafty father. He wasn't going to get away from a fight with her unscathed. He and Nacho quickly disappeared from the balcony as Nero began to come to.

Zaylee looked into his black, empty, soulless eyes and felt her heart break. She hopped with all her might that this would work. She shot Doc, followed by her two Fandangos for support at Nero, the green and blue glow bouncing off the walls as the team looked on waiting for the result. As Doc and the Fandangos returned to protoform, an unconscious Eli Shane lay on the ground.

"Oh my gosh!" Trixie exclaimed rushing to his side.

"How did you know this would work?" she asked, struggling to lift Eli up.

"I had a hunch. I'm just extremely glad I was right. Now grab Eli and let's get out of here before Blakk sends any more cronies after us." She shot her Invisius slug up in the air again, and the team returned back to their mechas.

"Is he going to be alright?" Trixie asked again as they hoisted the unconscious Eli onto Kord's mecha.

"Absolutely, I think he's coming to now." Zaylee smiled, looking down on them from her mecha as Eli let out a groan.

"What happened?" He managed to get out.

"Eli! Oh thank goodness you're alright!" Trixie exclaimed. And then she planted a huge full kiss right on his lips.

Zaylee's knuckles turned white as she gripped the handles of her mecha. "I'm glad to see you're okay." She murmured quietly, a hint of harshness that wasn't there before in her voice as she struggled to keep her emotions in check.

"We'll explain everything when we get home." Kord said to the still weary Eli, "Right now though, I think it'd be best to get out of here."

"Agreed," Zaylee struggled against the lump beginning to form in her throat. "This may come in handy to get you out of the area." She shot her Invisius slug into the air one more time, watching the Shane Gang disappear, before silently bolting off on her own, tears stinging at the corner of her eyes.


	11. Hard Goodbyes

Zaylee's whole body trembled, unable to control her emotions anymore. She didn't want to fall apart because of Eli, not ever, but here she was. She had done everything do avoid facing her feelings. She had practiced dueling until her slugs were exhausted. She had run more miles than her legs could carry her. She had rode farther and faster than her mecha beast was built for. Now however, without anything to busy her, she couldn't stop the onslaught of her thoughts anymore.

She sunk to her kitchen floor, holding her sides as if she would burst. She felt hurt, betrayed, abandoned, angry, confused. Even a hint of unwanted jealousy gnawed away at her insides. She took in a shaky breath. How had she become so weak? It shouldn't even bother her. But it did, oh it did. Dana had been surprisingly consoling when Zaylee had rode directly to her house after saving Eli, but it had done nothing to ease the pain.

Her slugs hopped over to her, trying to comfort her. She took another shaky breath and clutched her sides tighter, trying to hold herself together.

"I can't do this." She admitted to her slugs. "I can't be here anymore. We leave tomorrow."

The slugs were confused, but excited as they followed her around her apartment, watching her drag out her old duffle bag and throw all her belongings into it.

Her hand stopped over a picture of her and her best friends.

"I should probably say goodbye to them," she thought, "They'd never forgive me if I didn't."

"You're what?!" Pulse screamed over their pizza at dinner.

"Going on a solo expedition to the less explored western caverns," Zaylee repeated calmly.

Dana raised an eyebrow at her. "Care to explain why?" She challenged

"I need to." Zaylee glared back at the pink-haired girl, hoping she wouldn't spill the actual reason she was leaving.

"That sounds way too dangerous." Xia tried to reason with her sad-eyed friend. "I'd seriously reconsider. Or at least consider taking a friend."

"This is something I need to do on my own." She repeated solemnly.

"At least sleep on it before you go running off trying to get yourself killed." Xia begged.

"I'll be fine." Zaylee shrugged their words off. But as she looked into their eyes, she felt something pull at her heart strings.

"I'll sleep on it," she tried to smile. Her friend's faces showed a bit of relief and she began to feel the tightness in her chest loosen for the first time in days.

However, her friends were still aware Zaylee had left out some glaring details. Pulse followed her out of Ricochet's Pizza, wanting to get to the bottom of Zaylee's sudden departure.

"You never mentioned why you were going." Pulse challenged, easily catching up to Zaylee's slow steps.

"I sorta did," Zaylee offered, her stomach clenching into a ball again. "It's research and exploration. I'm feeling antsy. It's time for an adventure. I've decided to pick up botany and cartography." Zaylee hoped one of her excuses would deter her determined friend.

"So you're just going to leave your life, your friends, everything in the dust?"

"It's not permanent."

"But it is extended. What if Blakk does something big? You're the best slinger I know! What if something bad happens? What if we need you? What if B.E.E becomes more of a threat?"

"You guys are going to be fine. Trust me. If I thought something serious was brewing, I'd stay."

"How can you tell?" Pulse challenged.

"I may not be naturally intuitive," Zaylee said, mentioning Pulse's abilities, "but I can read the signs, nothing's to serious right now."

Pulse glared at her friend's feigned nonchalance, knowing everything she had said was a lie. "Alright, tell me the truth." She demanded.

"I just did." Zaylee argued, walking ahead of her.

Pulse growled and rushed in front of Zaylee, blocking her path. Zaylee glared, annoyed.

"It's about Eli, isn't it?" Pulse accused. Zaylee's glare faltered. She felt that tearing feeling in her hollow insides again.

"What happened?" Pulse asked, her friend's distraught expression all the conformation she needed.

"It's no big deal." Zaylee shrugged, blinking back tears.

"Liar," Pulse accused again.

"Alright, fine!" Zaylee gave up, exasperatedly throwing her hands in the air. "Maybe you were right all along! Maybe I liked Eli as more than a friend! Maybe I liked him more than I should have!"

"Then why don't you just tell him? Running away doesn't seem like a good way to deal with the issue." Pulse's voice was soft now, she was worried for Zaylee. She had never seen her like this.

"I'm not running away from him. It's not that I can't tell him. I didn't want to. I didn't want things to get complicated."

"I don't get it. Then why are you running away?"

"Because things did get complicated. After we saved Eli from Blakk…" Zaylee paused; she was struggling to keep herself together. Her arms went back to clutching her sides as the memory assailed her, repeating it's self in her mind like a broken record.

Pulse waited patiently. Eventually Zaylee managed to get herself together again. "After we saved Eli, Trixie kissed him. Hard."

Pulse looked stunned. Zaylee hadn't mentioned this the first time she told her and Xia about the story. Pronto hadn't mentioned it either. But the more she thought about it, Trixie and Eli were extremely close last time she was visiting Pronto…

"Zaylee…" She began.

"I have to go." Zaylee repeated, cutting her off. "The only way to get rid of the problem is to leave it. I'm not going to sit around moping about lost chances and being a bother to their team. Once I get over my feelings and I stop crushing on Eli, then I'll come back. I promise it won't be forever." Zaylee looked determined, but Pulse could still see the hurt behind the mask.

"Are you sure you want to do this alone?" Pulse repeated Xia's question from earlier.

"Yes, I have to deal with this on my own. I'm sorry, there's just no other way." And with that, Zaylee hurried off, leaving Pulse to worry about what she could do about it.

Pulse rode her mecha as fast as she could to her house. She pulled up her computer and called Xia with shaking hands.

"So Dana was right?" Xia asked as soon as her face popped up on the screen.

"Yeah, it was about Eli. Apparently he and Trixie kissed and Zaylee's jealous."

"That's what Dana told me. What I don't get is why she doesn't just tell Eli how she feels."

"Xia, when there's romance within a group, it's best to let it be, if you go messing with the relationship, you could do serious damage to the group dynamics."

"And dating within the group doesn't have a similar effect?"

"We can't undo what's already done; all we can do is try to not lose our friend."

"Lemme talk to her tomorrow before she leaves. And who knows? Maybe she'll change her mind."

"I certainly hope so." Pulse hit the end call and rubbed her temples. Why did Zaylee have to be so stubborn sometimes? She got up and went through her cabinets looking for more food. This was getting way to stressful. And no one had even fired a shot. Yet.

Xia walked down the hall of floor five. Zaylee's apartment was near the end, with the beautiful balcony that overlooked the training arena in the back. But she wasn't here for the scenery. She had some serious business to take care of.

She knocked on the door and rocked back and forth on her heels as she heard her friend undo the five locks. Five seconds passed and Zaylee finally opened the door. She looked as if she had cried all night.

"I'm going." She said definitively and went back to tiding up her apartment before her departure.

"You don't have to." Xia tried to reason. Now that she thought about it, she may not be the right person for the job.

"Yes, I do." Zaylee argued back. "It's the best option."

"But not the only option." Xia felt like she was grasping at strings.

"But it is the best. Staying here will just lead to drama, and not the good kind."

Xia had no idea what to do. She hadn't even stepped into the apartment and she felt like she had already failed. Out of options she fell back on her last resort. "I'm not letting you leave." She growled, raising her blaster.

"Xia please don't do this," Zaylee groaned, feeling way to world weary for a teenager. "I don't want to duel you."

"I don't want you to leave!"

Zaylee looked up, hearing her friend's voice crack. She rushed over, embracing Xia in a hug. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I don't have another choice."

"Please don't leave." Xia begged.

"I have to." Zaylee repeated. She walked back inside and reached into one of the drawers in her kitchen, pulling out a spare key.

"You can use my apartment until I get back."

"I have a home." Xia frowned.

"And now you have two. Just take in the mail whenever you're here. I don't care if you read it; it's usually just junk mail anyways. Box number 515."

"I don't want your apartment. I want you to stay."

"You're the genius. You know why I can't stay here. It'll kill me. When I come back, I promise I'll make it up to you. We can do anything you want. But I have to go."

Xia sniffled, but she knew she couldn't deter Zaylee. She watched as Zaylee slung her duffle bag over her shoulder and walk out of the apartment. Xia felt like the heartbroken one, watching her friend leave without any regrets. She pulled up Zaylee's computer and called Pulse.

"Did it work?" The part-cat teenager asked.

"Does it look like it? No, she gave me the keys to her apartment and left. She's too heartbroken herself to see that she's hurting us. But I think she'll be back. She loves Eli more than her conscious mind is willing to admit. If she doesn't come back for us, she'll come back for him."

Pulse frowned; it was always friends then boyfriends in their trio. She had canceled on Pronto more than once for impromptu dinners. Why did Zaylee have the right to run off because of boy problems? But then the light bulb lit up. "He'll talk her out of it!" She suddenly exclaimed.

"I highly doubt it; she seems pretty set on leaving." Xia shrugged, looking around the apartment that was now temporarily in her possession.

"It's worth a shot." Pulse said as she ended the call. She immediately pulled her contact list back up and scrolled down to the name of her last hope. Hopefully it wasn't too late.

"Erin my sweet angel!" Pronto exclaimed as he saw his girlfriend's face on the screen. "How may I be of service to you today?"

"Actually, I need to talk to Eli." She admitted.

"What? Why him?"

"It's about Zaylee."

"Oh, well, fine. I shall get him right away." Pronto walked away from the monitor, but Pulse could still hear his voice bellowing throughout the house the Shane Gang all shared.

"Hello?" Eli looked awkwardly at the monitor, wondering why Pulse would call to see him, not Pronto.

Pulse cut strait to the chase. "Zaylee's leaving. She's decided to go on a solo mission. We couldn't talk her out of it. You're our last hope. She'll be passing through Bulls-eye around noon. If you can catch here there, maybe she'll listen to you. But you need to hurry, you don't have much time." Pulse signed off as soon as she finished her message. Eli ran his fingers through his hair, confused. Why was it such a big deal for Zaylee to go on a solo mission? But if Pulse thought they needed his help, he'd try.

He knew better than anyone else that Zaylee was a hard train to de-rail when she had her mind set on something. Still, he went to the garage and headed off towards Bulls-eye.

Zaylee rode as quickly as she could while still staying in stealth mode; not wanting to draw to much attention to herself as she sped down the roads, avoiding waiving citizens who recognized her silver and blue mecha as a hero's ride. She would only stop in Bulls-eye for lunch, and then she was on to Stony Brooke for one last upgrade to her mecha before she went off on her soul-cleansing, mind-enriching trip. That was how she liked to look at it now. Good for the heart and mind. She pulled into Bulls-eye, stopping at a small diner for a burger and fries. She still felt hollow, but she knew that she'd get over it. She shrugged off the feeling again as she walked outside and climbed back on her mecha. That was when she heard it, that unmistakable voice calling her name.

"Zaylee! Zaylee!"

She gulped and let her bangs fall into her face as she climbed onto her mecha.

"Come one Zays, I just wanna talk."

Zaylee felt her heart shattering all over again. She gripped the handles of her mecha as she shot the thing immediately into the top gear, leaving Eli and all the memories behind her.

**Well this is where this story ends. But don't fret, there will be more! The next story I make will be a series of shorter chapters about Eli and Zaylee and their time apart. There are more chapters, because it will span over seasons two and three. So if you liked that one, I hope you'll read my next one as well. Until then slingers!**


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